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AN 

OF THE 

ORIGIN, POLICY, AND PRINCIPLES 

OF THE 

OPPOSITION TO THE ADMINISTRATION 

AND AN EXPOiflTION OF THE 

OFFICIAL CONDUCT OF THOMAS H. BENTON, 
One of the Senators from Missouri. 



> 



•' To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the 
man that speaketh froward things ; whose ways are 
crooked, and thty froward in their paths." 

PROV.L12-J5. 



Published originally in the Missonri Republican, 

182G. 



IN 







By transfeT 

DEC 30 1915 



,^ 



t' 



CONTENTS. 



No. 1. 



The Opposition directed more asrainst Mr. Clay than Mr. 
Adams — The leaders described— Johv Randolph apoliti- 
cal Cain ; his hand against every body — Causes of his 
discontent — J. C. Calhoun an agitator of restless ambi- 
tion ; his political tergiversations and manoeuvring — 
Thomas H. Benton, once the friend of Clay and the ene- 
my of Jackson; now unaccountably hostile to his former 
friend, and mysteriously attached to his declared enemy ; 
identified with the Opposition to the Administration, and 
seconds their hostility to Internal Improvements and Do- 
mestic Manufactures. 

No. II. 

The Opposition a coalition of antagonists, having no bond of 
union but common disappuintment and a desire of revenge. 
— Accuse Mr. Clay of corruption — M'Duffie manager of 
the chaige — George Kremer his cat's-paw — Accusations 
published — Mr Clay demands an investigation — A commit- 
tee appointed-KREMER's pledge, recantation and confession 
— (.^httrg's renewed — Facts and principles urged in their 
support, considered — The accusers tried by their own stan- 
dard, and found wanting. — Extraordinary and sudden re- 
conciliations among the confederates — Reciprocal hatred 
between Benton and Jackson — Character of their hostility 
— Benton's exertions in favor of Clay against Jackson — 
Facility with which he has abandoned his relation and 
friend, and attached himseh to his declared enemy. At- 
tempts to dispose of the vote of Missoiui — and failing, de- 
nounces Mr. Scott.— -The Administration might subdue 
hostility by bestowing offices on the leaders — Kefusing to 
do so, incurs their lasting displeasure. 




?1 

ing- ministers — Their change, with the reasons — Speech of 
Col. Benton — his insincerity and contradictions exposed 
— His ridiculous proposition to send an official eves-drop- 
per to the assembly — The real cause of his opposition to 
be found in the omission of his name in the nomination — 
An interpolation in the speech exposed — His claim to the 
character of an economist further illustrated by his mode 
of charging' his own compensation— Tiie vanity and falsity 
of his attack on Mr. Clay. 

No. VIII. 

An election according to the Constitution is an election by 
the people — Nothing else can by recognised as the public 
will— The President ought, therefore, to be respected as 
the President of the people — Expressions of Gen. .Jackson — 
His change — Votes against Mr. Clay, to gratify his re- 
venge — Would have approved Mr. Clay if he had basely 
fawned upon him after the manner of others — A sum- 
mary of facts illustrating the character and principles of 
the confederates — Their professed object to promote Gen. 
Jackson to the Presidency— Their former opinions of him al- 
luded to — The evidence of his qualifications not presei-ved 
in his biography, or ^y tradition — The Creek treaty — A- 
boitive attempt to implicate the administration in the 
frauds meditated by the deputation — Col. Benton recom- 
mends bribery — His ludicrous attempt at justification — 
Examples of Talleyrand followed by Col. B. — Wishes to 
qualify himself to be Jackson's Secretary of State — The 
whole party briefi> described, with a warning to the pec 
pie. 



C I) 



TOKCB KZGBT. 



RVJBUSBSD OniGINALLT IN TBZ MISSOCRI RXrVlLlCAN. 



BY CURTIUS. 



No. L 

To observers of passing evcDts, it must be ap- 
parent, that the opposition organized at W/ishing- 
ton last winter, under the auspices of Messrs. Ran- 
dolph and Calhoun, is more immediately directed 
againsi Mr. Clay than Mr. Adams. They would 
gladly, indeed, destroy the confidence of the peo- 
ple in both, and crush their future hopes, if they 
could ; but if they must fail in either, they would 
prefer the sncrifice of the Secretary. This is mani- 
fest, both froqn the materials which compose that 
most extraordinary combination, and the measures 
they have selected for their attack. 
' At the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the Presiden- 
cy, Mr. Randolph was the pet of the nation. No 
man in the Union, at that time, possessed brighter 
prospects. Though young, he was considered as 
one of the leading champions of the democratic par- 
ty. In the great struggle which then agitated the 
nation, he performed a conspicuous part, and ac- 
A 




quired no little renown for his active and efficient 
services, especially in the election of Mr. Jefferson ; 
butiiis career of usefulness was as short lived as it was 
brilliant. He wished to be rewarded (as the oppo- 
sition phrase it) by the appointment of Minister to 
England, and was disappointed. HSs mortified am- 
bition immediately manifested itself in a violent and 
intemperate liostility to the then administration. 
Relying on his supposed perscmal pofiularity, he 
hoped to draw in the opposition a great portion of 
the republican party, and thereby force Mr. Jeffer- 
son into a gratification of his ambition. Failing in 
this, he turned his wrath against the whole party, 
and it has continued ever since, marked by no other 
change than increasing virulence. He fell as sud- 
denly as he had risen, and he fell to rise no more. 
Disappointed himself, he acknowledges no claim, in 
any other, to that distinction once within his reach, 
and which he still covets. Claiming to be the first 
man in the nation, he renounces all political con- 
nexion with parties or men, who do not acknow- 
ledge, as a fimdamental article of their faith, his in- 
fallibility, and his right to dictate to, and control 
them, in all cases whatsoever. Hitherto defeated 
into every effort to form a pi^rty of his own, he has 
stood to the wall alone, waging a war of political 
extermination against all men enjoying the confi- 
dence of the nation, or rising to political distinction. 
From the first moment, therefore, that Mr. Clay 
appeared in public life, and f xiibited to the world 
th<- powers of his mighty mind, he became the pe- 
culiar mark of Mr. Randolph's hostility ; he was 
treated -^s a usurper of a place belonging exclusive- 
ly to Mr. Randolph ; his political course was assail- 
ed as the means at once to destroy him, and restor- 
inghis assailant to the corfidence of the nation. But, 
to his utter discomfiture, Mr. Clay was supported by 






the whole democratic party, and covered himself 
with unlading glory, as the author and advocat* of. 
those measures which have conducted this nation 
to her present enviable condition. P\»iled in 
every attack, Mr. Randolph forgot the dignity of 
the station he held, and attempted, in the Capitol of 
the nation, to ridicule both Mr. Clay and the peo- 
ple whose confidence he enjoyed, by sneering at his 
origin- and literary attainments; but again the illus- 
trious man who " inherited from his parents nothing 
but ignorance and poverty," the architect of his own 
fortune and fame, obtained a signal triumph. He 
has not been, he never will be forgiv^^n. He that 
has injured another without provocation, is always 
the most persevering and unrelenting enemy. 

The restless overweening ambition of the Vice- 
President has manifested itself on many occasions. 
From the moment he came into Congress, his chief 
study appears to have been to elevate himself; and 
his talents, confessedly great, have been exerted 
accordingly. The highest place in the favor of 
the Democratic party was occupied by Mr. Clay ; 
and Mr. Calhoun's exalted opinion of himself 
would not permit him to accept any other. Tore- 
move Mr. Clay, or to divide the parly by exciting 
discontents and uniting with the Federalists, was 
the only means of attaining his object. Mr. Ran- 
dolph's frequent failures, in attempting the first, ad- 
monished him to adopt the latter. Accordingly, in 
the winter of 1814-15, (while Mr. Clay was ab- 
sent in Europe,) he made his grand effort. For a 
while every thing seomtd to accommodate itself to 
his wishes, a few of the Democratic mon^bers. disaf- 
fected by his means towards the Ad.tiinistration, 
enlisted under his slandaid, and the Federalists, 
then a formidable minority, apparently co-operated. 
Supposing that he had thus secured a majority in 
the House of Representatives, he at once assumed 



r**' 



the port and tone of a political leader, high in the 
confidence of a powerful party ; but, unhappily, the 
result too soon dissipated all his visionary hopes. 
On the final vote, the Federalists deserted hira in a 
body, leaving only hina and some hilf dozen of his 
personal friends to condole with each other over 
the ruins of his fallen greatness. They had co- 
operated with hira only for the purpose of defeating 
an important measure of the Administration, and 
having effected it, they left him prostrate, to deter- 
mine, at his leisure, who had been the dupe — he 
or they. 

Taught by this experiment, that he had nothing 
to hope from any attempt to divide the party, his 
only remaining expedient was to supplant Mr. Clay 
in the confidence of the People. The failure of 
Mr. Randolph had taught him that this could 
not be done by open hostility to Mr. Clay, or 
his measures. He therefore affected to be the 
zealous friend of all those measures which had won 
for Mr. CUy the favor and confidence of the peo- 
ple. While he continued in Congress, he appear- 
ed, on all occasions, as their strenuous advocate. 
Subsequent events have shown that bis object was 
not so much the public good, as his own advance- 
ment. He was a member of the caucus of 1816, 
but whether he advocated Mr. Crawford or Mr. 
Monroe, in their memorable contest foi nomina- 
tion, is unknown to the writer. He was, however, 
unquestionably pledged to support for the Presi- 
dency the one who should receive a majority in 
caucus, and, if he was friendly to Crawford, was 
bought over; if hostile, he was rewarded by the ap- 
pointment of Secretary of War.* In this oflke he 

■* I'hese expressions are used only as a practical illustra- 
tion of the charges made by Mr. Calhoun, and others, a- 
gainst Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay. 



i 



5 

/ 

is supposed to have earned the Presidency, and es- 
p»'ciuiiy the support of the Western and South-wes- 
tern states, by his enc'>uragemenl of internal im- 
prnveTBents, and other measures, for which the na- 
tion is indebted to Mr. Clay. 

Thit Mr. Calhoun hud no share in originating 
either, is well known, and that his support of them 
was a hollow pretence, is now ascertained, by the 
condition on which he has agreed to accept the co- 
oper. »fion of Mr. Randolph.* But the propositioa 
on which Mr. Calhoun most plumed himself was 
the establishment of a chain of military posts on the 
Missouri, extending up to the Yellow Stone ; and 
yet, it is well known here, that the whole plan ori- 
ginated with the old Missouri Fur Company, and 
was suggested by one of the partners, an enterpris- 
ing trader, now no niuret 

The course pursued by Mr. Calhoun had so far 
succeedf'd in regaining the good opinion of the peo- 
ple, thai iiis political somerset of 1814 was forgot- 
i^'n by many. It was supposed that he had turned 
t'rom the error of his ways, and, if encouraged, 
might yet become a fearless and disinterested states- 
man. The people of the West, always generously 
disposed to foster young men of genius, and espe- 
cially those who, like Mr. Calhoun, profess to have 
renounced their evil propensities, accorded to him 
warm-heaiied expressions of approbation, intended 
as inritements to perseverance in well doing. His 

*Mr. Randolph publicly announced his determioation, in 
the Senate chamber, to abandon Calhoun, and his factioa, 
if they did not abandon internal improvements, tariff, 8ic. 
and Mr. Calhoun subsequently gaTt the casting vote against 
the Illinois Canal ! !! 

tThe late Manuel Lisa. The petition wa« wiittea by * 
gentleman now residing in St. Charles county, and itprc- 
samed to be still on file in the War Department. 

A2 



abilities were acknowledged, and his industry com- 
mended, as promising pledges oi future greatness and 
usefulness. This was too much for him. Inflated 
with his own importance, his vanity pointed out 
the Presidential chair as now completely within his 
reach. 

The premature zeal of partisans had presented 
to the nation the question, who should be the suc- 
cessor of Mr. Monroe ? Immediately after the com- 
mencement of his second term, Mr. Adams and 
Mr. Crawford were designated as candidates ; but 
neither were supposed to be popular in Pennsyl- 
vania, the Western or South-western states. The 
expressions of kindness (intended as encourage- 
ment only) by the people of the West toward Mr. 
Calhoun, were eagerly converted by him into a 
pledge of support for any office he might seek, 
and, to the utter astonishment of the nation, he 
was declared to be a candidate for the Presidency^ 
A press was established at Washington at an enor- 
mous expense. Many thousand papers were sent 
i^ra/{s into every part of the Union, full of high- 
wrought encomiums on the Secretary of War, and 
calumnies against the Secretary of the Treasury, 
(Mr. Crawford,) whose popularity in the South, it 
was thought necessary to destroy. Every art was 
practised to gain Pennsylvania and the western 
States, without avail. The western people spontan- 
tousiy presented to the nation the claims ofthat dis- 
tinguished statesman, Mr. Clay, for the same office, 
and they could not be induced to abandon their 
earliest and best friend foT the gratification of a 
young aspirant, of equivocal politics and unsettled 
principles. This expression of preference f»r Mr. 
C. immediately brought upon him the vengeful ire 
of Mr. Calhoun, (hitherto concealed from motives 
of policy.) Presses were subsidized in every wet- 



tern state to traduce Mr. Clay, and the laborers 
were worthy of the cause. 

Some of them were even so indiscreet as to charge 
it upon Mr. Clay, as a crime, th^t he voted for the 
establishment ofthe U. S. Bank, when it was known 
to the whole nation that Mr. Calhoun was himself 
the most zealous advocate of the measure then in 
Congress. Mr. Calhoun, at length, convinced that 
he could not obtain the support of a single Wes- 
tern elector, took himself to his old plan of produc- 
ing division, and succeeded. General Jackson was 
nominated by Tennessee, and divided the West. 
Unluckily, Pennsylvania, the strong hold of Mr. Cal- 
houn, immediately forsook him, and, seconding 
Tennessee, became the most clamorous for the 
election of the General. FoiK^d in all his eff»)rts, ht 
began to make prepnrativtns for secuiing his retreat. 
He first proposed a conlition with Mr. Adams and 
his friends, and was rejected. After several other 
experiments, as a last res "urce, h*- united with Jack- 
son, and by that means contrived to afflict this na- 
tion as Vice-President. Thisotfice, however, does 
notfiU the measure ofhis ambition, oreqiial his own 
estimate of his cliims. He evidently still labors 
under the same delusion which first urged him to 
become a candidate. He still believes, that if Mr. 
Clay h «d not been a candidate, he would himself 
have obtained the votes of the West. He knows^ 
that if Mr. Clay had not been nominated. General 
Jackson would not have been brought f )ward ; and 
he supposes that he might then have obtained the 
votes of Pennsylvania, added to South Carolina, the 
West, and perhaps New Jersey, North Carolina and 
Marvland. At all events, he would have been one 
of the three highest ; and feared no competition, 
when intrigue and management would avail. Mr. 
Clay having been so far in favor with the people 



8 



as to be nominated for the Presidency, and his leav- 
ing been the obstacle to Mi. Calhoun's pronioiiun, 
is an offence not to be forgiven. 

Such are the materials of which tliat motley com- 
bination, culled the opposition, is composed. Men, 
disappointed of prelermt-nt — some, iieretofore pro- 
fessedly the friends ot'iuternfil improveinents,of man- 
ufactures, and of a liberal policy in relation to the 
Spanish American Republics — and those who have 
heretofore openly assailed them all — have made a 
common cause against the Administration, the Pa- 
nsma Mission, Roads and Canals, and the protec- 
tion of Domestic Manufactures. 

But it may be said, that one, at least, of the most 
active and zealo:»s me nbers of the opposition, Col. 
Benton, is the friend of Mr. Clay. Let us exam- 
ine how that matter stands: That he claims to be 
the rel ktioo, nnd w js once the friend of Mr. Clay, is 
conceded. In 1822, it is understood, he attend»-d 
at St. Charles, while the Isjisiature was in session, 
and urged his nomination to the Presidency. From 
that period, until 1824, nothing further was h« ard 
from Col. Benton concerning the Presidential elec- 
tion, he being, during that time, at his residence in 
Virginia. In the latter year, he made to his consti- 
tuents the celebrated "visit of inclination and du- 
ty," and during the summer and fall he displayed 
some zealjboih in electioneering for Mr. Clay against 
Gen. Jackson, and in reviling Mr. Barton, his col- 
league, who was then a candidate for re-election to 
the Senate. \ deadly hostility is knov/n to have 
existed between Gen. Jackson and Col. Benton. 
They were literally at daggers' points, and both 
were supposed to be implacable. Gen. Jackson and 
Mr. Clay were, to say the least, not friendly, ever 
since the latter, impelled by a sense of duty, spoke of 
the conduct of the former^ in the Seminole war, as 



he thought it deserved. A reconciliation, as sudden 
as it was unexpected, has been effected between 
Col. Benton and the General, and which yet re- 
mains a mystery to those who are familiar with the 
character and disposition ofbotb gentlemen. 

The Presidential election terminatt^d in a plurali- 
ty of vott^sin favor of Gen. Jackson. The contest 
was evidently between him and Mr. Adams, in the 
House of Representatives ; and the partisans of the 
former shouied in anticipation of the triumph of 
tiieir favorite. His adherents at Washington af- 
fected to entertaiiJ no doubt of his success. It was 
a time, indeed, to try the souls of men looking for- 
ward to Executive favor : it required a steady hand 
to adjust the balance of probabilities. Barton had 
long been in favor of Adams, and Col. Benton soon 
declared for Jackson. Then came the tug of war 
— the vote of our Representatives being the subject 
of contest. It was given to Mr. Adams; and a fiiend- 
ship of nine years standing, between Col. Benton 
and Mr. Scott, was dissolved. Mr. Clay was soon 
after nominated to the office of Secretary of State. 
Col. Benton, indeed, voted for the ratification of his 
nomination ; but the opposition was not then or- 
ganized, nor was Randolph, its present supreme di- 
rector, then in the Senate. 

In the spring of 1825, Col. Benton revisited Mis- 
souri. The Calhoun and Jackson presses were 
then teeming with abuse of Mr. Clay; he was open- 
ly charged with corruption in obtaining his ap- 
pointment, and with having purchased and sold 
the votes of the western States. These libels wer« 
republished here with additions ; and the relation 
and friend of Mr. Clay observed,throughout his visit, 
a mysterious silence. He who, one year before, 
had been eloquent in his praise, would silently have 
5uffered obloquy to settle on his name. " It is al- 



10 

most as criminal to hear a worthy man traduced, 
without attempting justification, as U> be the author of 
the calumny against him." If Col. Btnton had 
been the " friend indeed" of Mr. Clay, he would 
not have heard him vilely abus-d without warm «nd 
just indignation — much less vvould he have consort- 
ed with those who are full of" envy, malice, and all 
uncharitableness," towards that distinguished citi- 
zen. Fortunately, Mr. Clay had a surer reliance 
in the confidence and affection of the people of 
Missouri thart the kindred and friendship of her Sen- 
ator. Col. Benton returned to Washington, and be- 
came the personal friend and close ally of Messrs. 
Randolph and Calhoun. His first public act is op- 
position to the favorite policy of Mr. Clay, and of 
the people of the West. His next, an accusation a- 
gainst Mr. Clay, of having palmed upon the Senate 
a false translation of an important public document.* 
Mr. Clay is the advocate of internal improvement, 
and Col. Benton voted against the bill forrepairingthe 
great Western avenue, the Cumberland road ; that 
highway upon which he once declared he had 
wrought since its commencement, and would con- 
tinue to work until it reached the western confines 
of this State, or, perhaps, the mouth of Columbia. 
Mr. Clay is friendly to the protection of domestic 
manufactures ; and Col. Benton has announced his 
intention of voting for a reduction of the tarifl*, now 
but a short time in operation, and passed by the aid 
of his vote.t It cannot be disguised that Col. Ben- 
ton participates in the feelings of his new friend?, 
Calhoun and Randolph, and seconds all their plans. 
Mr. Randolph boasts of him as his ^^ friend videedP 
On a recent occasion, he was entrusted with his g' - 

*See the preface to his speech on the Panama Mission. 
tSee his speech on the tiiil to graduate the price of pub- 
lic lands, p. 46 , 



11 

cret intentions, and yet permitted Mr. Clay to be 
placed in a disadvantageous situation, without an 
effort.* Mr. Randolph sailed for Europe, leaving 
his speeches to be published under his rare. In 
short, Mr. Randolph's will is l^iw to the whole op- 
positi'.n; he has said they should vote against inter- 
nal improvements, &c. nnd it was done. 

Although this opposition originated in hostility 
to particular men, yet, as they have seh cted im- 
portant measures agninst which they unite, it is now 
no longer a question between Mr. Adams or Mr. Clay, 
and any body els —but a question of principle- 
shall our policy in relation to South America, our 
manufactures, and our system of internal improve- 
ments, be abandoned or nuuntained ? Shall the 
Cumberland Road be suffered to ^o to luin, or re- 
paired and extended? In some future number I 
shall discuss these questions. In my next, I shall 
attempt to show, that the Kaders of the opposition 
are obnoxious, accoiding to their own principles, to 
the charge of corruption, which th-y now makea- 
gainstthe President and Secretary of State. 

.-, , CURTIUS. 

see the account of the late duel. 



12 



No. II. 

There seems to be a prevailing disposition in the 
human family to impute all their failures to any 
oth^T cause rather than to their own deficiences. 
Hence, we find a general propensity to attribute 
unfairness to successful competitors. Each candi- 
date considers his own claims as paramount to all 
others, and his defeat as a misfortune, if not an in- 
jury. The disappointed are united by what they 
deem their common calamity, and, while they dis- 
agree in every thing else, combine in a common 
cause against their more fortunate competitor. If 
they cannot wholly deprive him of the prize he 
has won, thty will, at lea<»t, disturb him in its en- 
joyment. This disposition shows itself in the 
'^ pastimes of boyhood, in the graver pursuits of riper 
years, and no where more conspicuously than in 
contests for political preferment. Most of us have 
witnessed, and many of us, in our youth, have join- 
ed, the profixless contest of boys for a seat behind 
a passing carriage. We have seen the little ur- 
chins putting forth all their energies, each endea- 
▼oring to outstrip all the r* st in the race ; but, no 
sooner is the contest determined, and the victor in 
possession of his prize, that all the rest make a 
common effort to deprive hiir» of the reward of his 
toils, by uniting in the well-known cry of "cut be- 
hind !" The same spirit, increased to a bitterness 
that curdles the "milk of human kindness," too of- 
ten marks the progress and result of political con- 
tests — of which the late Presidential election furn- 
ishes a lamentable instance. IV1 en of disappointed 
ambition, full of resentment for defeated hopes, 
and an unholy desire of revenge, have combined 



13 

with the unrelenting personal enemies of their sue- 
cessful rivals, and openly accuse some of the purest 
patriots and brightest ornaments of the nation with 
" corruption." 

The Charge originated with Mr. Calhoun, who 
directed his hoppt\i\ p7'ofege, McDuffie, to make a 
public assualt, or cause it to be done. The latter, 
having then a lively recollection of the fleeting char- 
acter of his own valor, knew that it would not be 
relied on, if, peradventure, he should have occasion 
for it, in maint'.'ining the attitude it would become 
necessary to assume, wisely bethought him of the 
expedient of the monkey, who covetted certain 
chesnuts, which had been placed in the fire to be 
roasted, and not wishiiig to burn his own fingers, 
cunningly made use of the paw of a cat that lay 
dozing on the hearth. Accordingly, Mr. McDuffie 
plac*^d in tlie hands of the miserable George Kre- 
mer, for public-ition, a charge of corruption against 
Mr. Clay. This Kreraer, was perhaps the only 
creature then in Congress that had not wit enough 
to keep out of the fire. He was, therefore, easily 
persuaded to thurst his person between that of his 
instigator and danger, and thus far, he pri«ves to be 
a better defence than "lutestring." The charge was 
published, Mr. Clay publicly denied it, and denoun- 
ced the author ; KremeT avowed himself as such, 
but, unluckily, no body believed li ni — the tolera- 
ble dec(3.it Cnglish in which the accusation was 
made, was corjsidered a sufficient retutation of his 
claims, and the public, by C!>m n n consent, desig- 
nated th*- real authors. Mr. Clay being then Spea- 
ker of the House of Representatives, promptly de- 
; maided an investigation. Kremer not having re- 
ceived any instructi 'ns for the government of his 
conduct, in this unforeseen situation, and relying 
B 



\ 



14 

upon the resources of his principals, declared that 
he would make the charges g'»od ; and a commit- 
tee of investigation was elected by common con- 
sent — the facts on which the accusers relit^d were 
alleged to have transpired at Washington, a.>d then 
of recent occurrence. The witnesses, if any ex- 
isted, might have bit-en produced before the commit- 
tee, at any moment. The charges, if true, might 
have been established then, if ever; and a full in- 
vestigation was expected by the nation. Kremer 
promised, from time to time, to develope the 
particulars of the alleged corruption, and to main- 
tain them by testimi>ny. At length, however, he 
filed a formal plea to the jurisdiction of the com- 
mittee, and refijs^^d to proceed. iVo doubt was en- 
tertained at thai time, nor is there yet, that Calhoun 
and McDuffie were the managers of the whole, and 
directed Kremer in every thing but his pledge to 
support of his charges ; and this being out of their 
power, it was never tllvir intention to attempt. All 
impartial men at once acquitted Mr, Clay, and 
treated the charge and the fabricators as unwonhy 
serious consideration. Even poor Kremer disco- 
vered that his new friends had taken advantage of 
his headlong zeal for General Jackson, to impose on 
his unsuspecting stupi<lity, and make him the dupe 
of their designs. He declared that he did not be- 
lieve one w- rd of the charges which he had become 
instrumental in presenting to the nation. 

Nothing more was heard from or openly attempt- 
ed by Mr. Calhoun and his party, in relation to the 
accusations against Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams, (for 
both are included,) until after the union with Ran- 
dolph, Van Buren, Benton, and others, in that mot- 
ley CO nbination, vhich, for want of some political 
principle to give it a name, is denominated the 



15 

" Opposition." The charge has now been renew- 
ed, and is reiterated by every memb»^r of the coali- 
tion, each ambitious of employing the greatest 
variety of the mostopprobious epithets ; each vying 
with the other " who shall sink his stone deepest 
into the head" of that political Goliah, the Admin- 
istration. The facts upon which the Opposition 
rely in support of their charge of corruption, are, 
that Mr. Clay and Mr. Adanris were not friendly 
previous to the election; that Mr. Clay voted for 
Mr. Adams, who afterwards appointed him Secre- 
tary of State — and upon these facts, this nation is 
called upon to convict two of her most distinguish- 
ed citizens of corruption. 

They would have us believe their principles to 
be, that no two distinguished men, who have ever 
differed, can become reconciled, without a corrupt 
motive ; that when a President appoints to office a 
person who voted for him, it must be understood 
to be a reward for his vote ; and if he appoints a 
person who voted against hira, it is the price of 
Hpostacy, and in both cases, corruption in each par- 
ty. I shall waive, for the present, the considera- 
tion of the fact, that Mr. Clay and Mr. Jacksoa 
were irreconcileably hostile to each other ; that 
the former could never have voted for the latter 
without abandoning the principles whith he had 
fearlessly avowed and maintained, in the face of the 
nation. Suffice it to shv that he would have ren- 
dered himself at least as obnoxious to the charge of 
corruption, if he had voted for Mr. Jackson, as he 
did in voting for Mr. Adams. My present object 
is to bring the leading members of the Opposition 
to the test of their own standard, and examine them 
by the principles they have assumed, and shall re- 
quire only the aid of an additional propositittn, 
which will, duubtless, be conceded, namely— that 



16 

be who oilers, or is willing to be corrupted, is just 
as unfit to be trusted, as if he had actually received 
the reward of corruption. 

If then no two distinguished men, having once 
tlififered, can become reconciled without corrupt 
motive, I may ask upon what principles have 
Messrs. Calhoun and Randolph become reconciled 
to each other ? These gentlemen, before the late 
election, were thorough-going personal and politi- 
cai enemies. No two men in the nation exhibited 
more rancorous hostility toward each other : they 
have become restored to each other's favor, without 
any other apparent cause than the election ol Mr. 
Adams to the Presidency, and the appointment of 
Mr. Clay, whom they both hate, if possible, stiU 
more than they hated 'each other. By what magic 
power has the Vice President secured to himself the 
personal friendship and support of Van Buren 
and others, who heretofore pretended to be the 
warm friends of William H. Crawford? All of us 
remember the foul calumnies which Mx. Calhoun 
and his adherents fabricated and published against 
this excellent man and upright statesman, whom, by 
way of repoach, they called " the Radical Chief.'' 
Nor have we forgotten the accusations made against 
his friends in Congress, among whom Mr. Van Bu- 
ren and others, now of the Opposition, were re- 
presented to the nation as base conspirators against 
the most estimable rights and dearest interests of the 
people. Yet these men, thus reviled and denoun- 
ced, have not only forgiven their own injuries, but 
have enlisted under the banner of their accuser, and 
made him with a. common cause in attempting to de- 
stroy the reputation of others. To what cause shall 
we attribute the sudden attachment of Col. Benton 
for Gen. Jackson, to whom he had been personally 
hostile for years ? Between these gentlemen the 



17 

war had been carried on with a degree of determin- 
ed hostility on both sides, that forbid even the hope 
of reconciliation. Both implacable in their resent- 
ments, their feud was deadly. The friends of 
each arrayed themselves against those of the other, 
with the steadfast implacability of hosiile clans, and 
nothing, it is believed, prevented the loss of lives, 
but the removal of one of the chiefs, (Col. B.) from 
Tennessee. Hostilities, however, did not altoge- 
ther cease between the chiefs, with their opportu- 
nities of meeting. On the part nf Col. Benton, at 
least, there was no abatement. He never wavered, 
throughout the investigation and public discussion 
of the conduct of the General in the Seminole war, 
and continued to denounce him for that conduct, 
among other things, until after the electors were 
chosen, and the result of the Presidential election, 
so far as it depended on them, was known — when 
suddenly the hostile chiefs became reconciled, their 
wounds healed, and their mutual injuries forgotten, 
or at least forgiven. 

The Presidential election, so far as it depended 
on this State, was contested only between Mr. Clay 
and Gen. Jackson; and Col. Beuton devoted his 
lime and talents to the support of the former, man- 
ifesting, on all occasions, his preference for Mr. 
Clay, and his objections to Gen. Jackson, in lan- 
guage and conduct by no means eqivvocal. He pre- 
pared an address to the people of this state, io which 
Mr. Clay was represented as qualified, above all 
others, for the Presidency, by his eminent talents, 
his undoubted patriotism, and incorruptible integri- 
ty. To this address he put his own sign manual, 
and by his indefatigable industry procured the sig- 
natures of many of the citizens of this state — by his 
procurement it was published, and distributed in all 
B2 



18 



parts of the state. His personal exertions were de-- 
voted to the sarne cause. He was heard in all parts 
of the state, lauding Mr. Clay, and denouncing 
Gen. Jackson — the first as pre-eminently qualified, 
the latter as wholly unfit for the i.ffice he sought. 
The electien of the former was urged as necessary 
to the prosperity of the people, while the elevation 
of the latter was deprecated, as dangerous to their 
liberties. Even after the election in this state, and 
before the general result was known. Col. Benton 
exhibited his anxiety to acquit himself of all the 
blame, and " clear his skirts" of the blood which 
was 10 deluge the land, if Gen. Jackson should be 
President, and at the same time, to put in his claim 
to a share of the honors, if he was defeated, by 
boasting of the exertions which he had made a- 
gainst that " dangerous man," declaring that he 
had rode eight hundred miles for the purpose of 
preventing his success in Missouri.* But, in a few 
short months, his opmions of Gen, Jackson's quali- 
fications and claims to the Presidency underwent a 
total revolution ; and ao attempt was even made to 
dispose of the vote of this State in his favor. 

VVhatever. difficulty we might have in ascertain- 
ing the motives, which led to this extraordinary 
evt-nt, by the ordinary means of judging of human 
actions, there can be none if we apply the princi- 
plt^s and mode of reasoning adopted by the Opposi- 
tion. Colonel Benton was supposed to have the 
control of the vote of Missouri ; instead, therefore, 
of making overtures to Mr. Scott, it was thought 
most expedient to gain the favor of Col. Benton. 
The latter, proud of position which he supposed 

*One of the Ohio papers compliments Col. Benton for 
having made this declaration, while on his way to Wash- 
ingUm in Nov. 1824, beinga few weeks, only, before he di- 
TectedJMr. Scott to vote for Cfen. Jackson ) ! ! 



19 



liimself to occupy, naturally pnougli concluded, 
that the t:lection ot' Prt^sident was iu his i)\vn hundsj 
and {laving no very flattering hope of preferment 
from Mr. Adams, wh>' n)ight not so easily be per- 
suaded ;of his qualifications as Gen. Jackson, and 
influenced, pernaps, by other considerations, which 
have not been developed, he declared for the Gen- 
eral ; and the vote of Missouri was considered as 
disposed of accordingly — but Mr. Scott either took 
ofience at not being consulted personally, or was 
opposed in principle, to this disposition of his vote; 
and the nine years training of his frit nd proved 
unavailing; at the very m(>ment his exertions were 
most important, he took the bit in his teeth, and 
bolted. 

Upon the principles laid down by the Opposition, 
I have already shown, that Mr. Randolph offered 
to be corrupted, by seeking a mission to England, 
as a reward for his services in the election of Mr. 
Jeff'trson; that Mr. Calhoun was corrupted^ by the 
appointment of Secretary of War. To these in- 
staoces o( i\\Q purity of the principles of the Oppo- 
sition, I may add, that Mr. Van Buren vvhs more 
than willing to have accepted the appointment late- 
ly conferred on Mr. Gallatin, and it is well known 
that Col. Benton has been soliciting a foreign mis- 
sion ever since he has been in \' ongress, and those 
whc know him cannot be persuaded that he would 
have refused slich an appointment even from the 
present Administration ; indeed, it has been insinu- 
ated, thai all his wrath would have been spared, if 
Mr. Adams had not unluckily overlooked, or forgot- 
ten, his clnims, and inserted the name of Jehn Ser- 
geant instead of his, in the nomination rf the mission 
to Panama. — In short, it is easy to perceive, that, if 
the Administration were as corrupt as it is represent- 



20 



ed, tli'ey might purchase the silence, and even the 
support, of the most chimorous of the Opposition. 
We are, therefore, forced lo conclude, that the al- 
If^ged corruption does not exist, or that the Opposi- 
tion is not worth the purchase. 

In nnking the application of their own principles 
to themselves, I wish, by no means, to be under- 
stood, that I believe the members of the Opposition 
as corrupt, or coirupiible,as their own mode ot rea- 
soning, from particular facts, would prove them to 
Ibe. I believe many of them worthy the high sta- 
tions they o. cupy. They, however, cannot com- 
plain, if the impure motives which they have imput- 
ed to the members of the Administration, by infer- 
ence from particular facts, should be fixed on thtm- 
selves, by a likf' inft-rence trom simliar facts. We 
have !io means of penetrating the bosoms of men, 
and developing the motives of human action. Man, 
in the general, er^^cts in his own mind a standard 
by which he judges the motives of others, and as- 
signs to his fellow-man the motives for particular 
acts, which he supposes could alone influence him 
to do the same thing, in a similar situation. The 
Opposition, we presume, have only the odinary 
means ascertaining motives, by outward actions; 
hence, when we find them arguing the existence of 
corruption from the existence of particular acts, 
they cannot expect to escape imputation, when they 
are found doing the same things. But ray ob- 
ject was only to bring the gentlemen to the test of 
their own principles and njode of reasoning, and 
there I will leave ihem for the present. 

CURTIUS. 



21 



No. III. 



When political men, who have been lemaikable 
for their reciprocal hatred of each o$l»< r, surrender 
their judgements to the inflacnce of malevolence, 
envy and ill nature, (the offspring of defeated hope,) 
abandofl their former principles, thvir puli;ical and 
private friends, and unite in a common cause a- 
gainst them all, the public have a right to demand, 
and certainly expect, an explanation. When such 
men indulge in denunciations of the distinguished 
men who have been universally esteemed as ^t hon- 
or to the nation, and acuse them of the highest 
crimes which pufjlic servants can commit, the peo- 
ple before whom they are arraigned owe it to 
themselves as well as' to the accused, to demand 
some evidence of the truth of the accusations. But 
it would seem, that the men who have vent'jred to 
abuse the public ear, by imputing corruption to the 
President and Secretary of State, shrink from the 
duty which devolves on them, as accusers, and shun 
the^investigation which has been assidi^.ously sought 
by the accused, and their friends; yet they contn.ue 
to brave the well merited indignation of the public, 
by reiterating their charges, on the unsupported 
and very questionable authority of their own as- 
sertions. 

Under these circumstances, it would be sutticient 
to oppose the wtll-eained reputation of the Presi- 
dent and Secretary, for sterling patriotism and in- 
flexible integrity, to the asseitions of men whose 
practices have been continually in opposition to 
tlieir principles, of which they have hollow pro- 
fessions, and who have so involved themselves in 
all the mazes of contradictim as to have forte.. ed 
every claim to pubhc confidence,aud lost every hope 



09 

of regaining it without destroying the political re- 
putation of those who have been steadfast in their 
principles, and consistent in their politics. The 
unsupported allegatious of ambitious men whose 
sole object is their owu aggrandizement, and whose 
only hope of attaining that end depends on an a- 
bandonraent, by the people, of those measures which 
have advanced this nation to her present prosperi- 
ty, iiud the destruction of their author and advvcate, 
who has maintained them with a fearless indepen- 
dence that challenges the admiration even of his 
enemies — deserves the reprobation, rather than 
the support of the people. Waiving, however, all 
advantages which this view of the subject would 
give the accused, the inquiry may safely be pros- 
ecuted, to the utter discomfiture and disgrace of 
the accusers, upon their own testimony. If their 
opinions of their idol, expressed in by-gone days, 
are entitled to any weight, a vote for Mr. Adams, 
in preference to Gen. Jackson, will be found to be 
so far from furnishing the slightest presumption of 
impurity of motive, that it could not have been 
given otherwise, without a total abandonment of 
every principle upon which the preservation of 
the Union, and the well being of the republic, de- 
pend. 

When the conduct of Gen. .Tackson, in the Sem- 
inole War, was under ijivestigation in Congres, 
Randolph and Cobb, two of his new converted ad- 
herents, upon their oaths as members of the House 
of Representatives, openly accused him of a total 
disregard of the constitution and laws, and a ty- 
rannical abuse of power. Upon the united testi- 
mony of these gentlemen, and other members of 
Congress, supported by Col. Benton, with his En- 
quirer, the Richmond Enquirer, and Noah's Na- 
tional Advocate — all now of the Opposition, and 



23 

the most violent of the enemies of the President 
and Secretary of Slate — ^it was alleged that Gen. 
Jackson had kept an army on foot, and peremptori- 
ly refused to disband it, in open defiance of the or- 
ders of the President of the United States, as cora- 
mander-in-chif-f, in direct violation of his oath, and 
his duty as a subordinate officer; that while comman- 
ding at Nevv-OileanSj he violated the liberty of the 
press, denouncing and threatening to visit the hea- 
viest military pimishment upon the editor of a 
newspaper, for publishing, after the treaty of peace 
was signed, and the enemy had abandoned his 
attempt on New-Orleans, an ailicle extracted from 
another paper, intimating the prospect of a speedy 
peace; that he actually imprisoned the author of 
an article commenting on this extraordinary proce- 
dure, and not only refused obedience to a writ of 
habeas corpus, issued, according to the Ci>nstitution 
and laws of land, to inqiire into the cause of im- 
prisonment, but, in the spirit of military despotism, 
directed his vengeance, supported by an armed 
force, against the judse who issued the writ ; that 
he prevented the legislatme of Louisiana from free- 
ly exercising their constitutional functions, by the 
employment of military force ; that while in the 
State of Georgia, in command of a part of the na- 
tional troops, he assumed aulhority to command 
the whole body of the militia of that State, in ex- 
clusir^n of the Governor, their constitutional com- 
raander-in-chi-f, to whom he offered the grossest in- 
sults : that, after he had himself declared the Sem- 
inole War at an end, under pretence of pursuing a 
few straoglers, he invaded the territories of Jspam, 
a neutral nation, invested and ultimately captured 
her fortresses, and made the troops of the garrisons 
urisoners of war ; th.t he arrested two individuals, 
subjects of a neutral power, whom he accused oi 



24 

havino" committed the same offence against the na^ 
tion. wWu'.h Da Knlb, Lafayette and others, commit- 
ed against Great Biitain, that of aiding her enemy 
in war ; that ^?e arraigned them before a military 
court, upi-n charges unknown to martial law, and 
by his influence procured their conviction, upon 
testimony wholly illegal; that after they were sen- 
tenced by the court the one to suffer death, the other 
to be publicly whipped, he reversed the sentence 
of the latter and caused the one to be hanged, the 
other to be shot to death, declaring them to be 
" outlaws a.id pirates;" and that he put to death 
some of his Indian prisoners of war, without even 
the formality of a trial. 

Such are the accusations, among others, made 
against Gon. Jackson, seven years ago, by his neta 
friends. If true, he nor only d. -served all the epi- 
tha s which they then copiously bestowed upon him, 
bu5 the punishment which they meditated. That 
he escaped the latter, is, perhaps, to be attributed 
to the clemency of some, and the fears of other 
m'mbers of Congress, who had become alarmed 
for the safety of their ears.* 

Whether the charges were true or false, however, 
it is not my p irpose now to inquire. It is suffi'-ient 
that they were believed, and supported by a great 
portion of tliose who now compose the Opposition 
to the Administraiioni and by" the ablest men and 
m-st distinguished statesmen then in Congress — 
among whom, were the late Mr. Lowndes, of South 
C-ir lina, and Mr. Clay. The opinion of the lat- 

*Ttie General anl suite wore at Washington i^urini: the 
debate, =ind me.nli- rs of Congrt-ss were tureatened with the 
loss of their ears, for daring to maintain the tmi,) ofthe ac- 
cusations. A m;sseiige' was evesi despatched to Riclimond, 
Va. •' to drag- out," as tho phrase is, the author of certain 
essays in the Enquirer. 



25 



ter, it seems, has continued unchanged — and ''' this 
is the very head and front of his ofL^ndiniJj." If 
he h>id chopped round, as did the political weather- 
cocks who are now the most intolerant of Gen. 
Jackson's adherents, he would doubtless have been 
taken into favor as they have been, and would 
have continued, in their estimation, a wise, incor- 
ruptible, ind<^pend*^nt,and fe irless statesman, of fixed 
principles -and consistent practice. 

The History of Gen. Jackson's Life, published by 
his consent, furnishes no evidence of his quaUfi- 
cation for the office of Chief Magistrate, nor, in- 
deed, for any civil office — the whole book, with the 
exception of a few lines, being occupied in detail- 
ing and eulogizing his military exploits ; nor has 
tradition preserved any account of him as a private 
citizen, or civil officer, from which any opinion fa- 
vorable to his pretensions can be drawn. On the 
contrary, we have recently had conclusive demon- 
stration of his entire ignorance, or total disregard, 
of the constitution and la'vs of the land, and the 
nature of our civil institutions, and a manifestation 
of the arbitrary and despotic disposition which he 
is disposed to indulge, whenever he has the physi- 
cal power. In a letter to the late President, he de- 
clares that if he had comm.mded in the mirnary 
district within v/hich the Hartford Convention sat, 
he w uld have br nght th*- members before a C .urt 
■Martial and executed them, under the seconfi sec- 
tion of the articles of war ! ! ! which provi.ies, 
" That in time of war, all persons not citizens of, 
or owing alleginnce to, the United States, who 
shall be found htrking as spies, in or about the 
fortifications or encampments of the armies of the 
^ United States, or any of them, shall suffer death, 
according to the law and usage of nation^ by sen- 
tence of a General Court Martial:' Now, the 
C 



26 I 

i 

members of the " Hartford Convention" were ait f 
" citizens of, and owing allegiance to, the United 
States" — they sat in conclave, and were charged 
with, and, perhaps, were guilty of, meditating (rea- 
son against the United States ; an offence defined 
by the constitution, and punishable only upon in- 
dictment of a grand jury, and conviction by a petit 
jury, on the testimony of two witnesses, after a 
full and fair trial, in a court of law. They were 
certainly not aliens " lurking as spies in or about 
fortifications or encampments," and, with all due 
deference to Gen. Jackson and his abettors, under 
our system of laws, the act which he said he would 
have committed, would have been an offence of no 
less grade than murder. It seems he has yet to learn, 
that, under our form of government, even a traitor 
is not to be punished at the discretion of a military 
commander. 

One of the reasons stated by Mr. Clay for not 
voting in favor of Gen. Jackson, was, th^t he con- 
sidered him a *' military chieftain," which seems 
;o have given particular offence to his partisans. 
Yet they cannot diguise that his claims to the Presi- 
iency are maintained exclusively upon his military 
icrvices. They ask, whether those services are to 
jisqualify him ? And I answer, certainly not — but 
lis military talents and services alone are not suf- 
icient to qualify him for the chi^f magistracy of this 
epublic. He is no more a second Washington, 
is his friends pretend, because like him he has been 
I victorious general, than he is a second Jefferson, 
)ecause his name begins with J. Luckily, how- 
n'er, Mr. Clay will find a precedent, in the ohjec- 
ions volunteered by General Jackson against a 
* ndlitary chieftain" of the Revolution, the late 
'!saac Shelby, of Kentucky, when the President was 
jbout to confer on him the appointment of Sec- 



27 

retary of War. By the same authority, (Gen^ 
Jackson,) the objection made to Mr. Adams, that 
he was once a Federalist, vanishes ; we have it un- 
der his sign manual, as the volunteer adviser of the 
late President, that party distinctions are all a 
farce.* 

The very men who now denounce Mr. Clay for 
not having changed his opinion of Gen. Jackson's 
principles and pretensions, professed to entermin 
the same opinions, expressed in 1819, confirmed by 
the subsequent acis and avowals of Gen. Jackson ; 
nor was the smallest indication given of a change 
: until it was ascertained that the election would de- 
volve on the House of Representatives, and the 
prospect of the GeneraKs success brightened; when 
suddenly, the settled opinions of years were aban- 
doned, and the man who they had, upon the most 
deliberate investigation, pronounced to be a military 
tyrant, regardless of all law, as if by a miracle, be- 
came pre-eminently qualified for the office of Chief 
Magistrate in a government of laws. Some of the 
gentlemen whose judgements were thus wonder- 
fully illuminated, pretend that they were sincere in 
their former opioir.n?, but that on becoming per- 
sonally acqu-tinted with Gen. Jackson, they be- 
came s.itisfied of their error ; but the most of ihem 
cannot rlaim the benefit of ihis pretext, miserable 
as it !•; — among :hese is Col. H' nton. He, at least, 
cann<)t. preten<l previous ignorance of the char- 
acter and disp'siiion if G^n. Jackson, or that he 
h''s been l-^d int • de= unclatlons of bi n h\ mi:itake. 
I Th.'i-.' are circumstances fresh in tii rec nrcti p of 
' m'".V'>fth' !.e(»ple o/liiis Siate. (ifbei -s :< : ■ ^'-^n 



*The !rtfe'-R here alUid-.d to were published i ? , .c r 

oflSj8— 4, ir cc '■ 'qiunc -' ^^me misunderstanding oe- 
tweiu Mr. Lowrie and Mr. Monroe. 



28 



them,) exhibited in the publications made by these 
geiillenien 'dgaitist each other^ which should have 
forbidden reconciliation forever.* Yet these friends 
have become warm fiiends and close allies. Col. 
Benton, at least, is now as thoroughgoing in sup- 
port of his Jitio friend, as he was lately violent a- 
gainst him. As if fearful he would fall short of 
Gen. Jackson's demands, he has renounced his 
friendship for Mr. Clay, and now accuses him of 
practising a fraud upon the Senate, by purposely 
furnishing them a false translation ofa public docu- 
ment. He has deserted his kinsman^ whose obe- 
dient servant he lately was, and confederates with 
his enemies in destroying his well-earned reputa- 
tion, for no other apparent reason than that he would 
not follow the example of changing long established 
opinions, and become a parasite and flatterer of 
the Opposition favorite. 

With such facts before us, it would seem to me 
to be wholly unnecessary to urge the danger of en- 
listing in the cause, encouraging the ill-directed am- 
bition, and following the fortunes of men of such 
deplorable instability in their friendships, their 
opinions, and their principles. Surely no confi- 
dence can be placed in the allegations of politi- 
cians who, at one time, upon their oaths, accuse a 
public officer of high crimes, and at another, with- 
out atonement, or even explanation, turn and wor- 
ship him as an idol. From the specimens we have 
had of the fluctuating opinions of the vindictive ac- 
cusers of the President and Secretary, we have rea- 
son to anticipate, that ere long they will renounce 



*One of the publications of Gen. Jackson, during the 
memorable controversy with Col. B. is said to be still ex- 
tant, in the possession ofa gentleman ofNi^w Madrid coun- 
ty, in this state, and contains an allegation of facts, as we!' 
as of opinions, not very creditable to his new friend 



29 

their prelnndtid opinions, abandon their groundless 
accusations, and, as likely as not, become the sup- 
porters of the men they now hate. They are not, 
even now, consistent with themselves : while they 
profess to reverence the constitution, they coun- 
tenance and support the ambitious projects of a 
man, who, according to their own opinions, has re- 
peatedly shown his contempt or ignorance of its 
provisions. Claiming to be the special champions 
of state rights, they propose to reward, with the 
highest honors of the Republic, the man who, as 
commander of a part of the national army, pre- 
vented the legislature of one State from freely ex- 
ercising its constitutional functions, and daringly in- 
sulted the Chief Magistrate of another sovereign 
Stale, and usurped a portion of his constitutional 
powt-rs. 

Professing to be the exclusive friends of the peo- 
ple, and the special guardians of their liberties, 
they endeavor to advance to the Chief Magistraicy 
of this nation, one who stands accused by ihemseJves 
of " obstructing the administration of justice'' — 
** affecting to render the military independent of, 
and superior to, the civil power" — of " suspending 
the writ of Habeas Corpus" — of denying the '' be- 
nefits of trial by jury" to persons arrested for 
" pretended offences," and subjecting them to a 
•' mock trial," by a military court, and of many 
other acts of oppression, similar in character, and 
equally grievous with those alleged against the late 
king of England, in our Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. Indeed, the Opposition seem to have but 
one rule of political action, and that forms the very 
definition of despotism, namely, that "theendjus- 
tifi^^s the means." Even that sacred instrument, 
which stands as a proud monument of the wisdom 
and firmness of its authors, advocates and suppor- 
C2 



30 



ors, conssecrated by the blood of patriots, revered 
by the friends of civil liberty of every nation, has 
not escaped the unhallowed assaults of the disaffect- 
ed : before the assembled Senate of the nation, the 
Declaration of Independence has been pronounced 
by the mouth of their supreme director, JVlr. Ran- 
dolph, to be a " Ridiculous Fanfaronade," that 
is, a tumour of fictitious dignity. It is true, that 
Mr. R. is the only member of the coalition who has 
had the hardihood or indiscretion openly to avow 
their true principles; but it is equally certain that 
at the coming forth, of the above classical epithet, 
he was supported by the approving sinile?* of a!I his 
confederates in the Senate, and especially of his 
^^ friend indeedj'^* who, it is said, always contrives 
to be near the " Senator from Virginia," when he 
makes his "senate-distressing-harangues," and with 
'' an aspect of wondrous wisdom," a greedy ear, 
and delighted countenance, devours the " farra- 
gos" of the " wonderful man." 

CURTJUS. 

* Col. Benton. The intimacy of this gentleman with 
Mr. Randolph, is not (he least extraordinary of the events 
growing- out of the late election. To us, at a distance, it ap- 
pears altogether mysterious. Those, however, who claim 
to understand the matter, insinuate that it was produced by 
their res()ective wants — the one wanted adulation, and re- 
ceives it — the other warned a legacy, and expects it. Let 
him beware — " the m ist «'xtravagaot love is nearest to the 
strongest hatred." He has himself recently veiified the 
truth of this remark, and its converse 



31 



No. IV. 



History teaches us, that the leaders of parties 
and factions, in all governments, in the general, 
commence their career of ambition by professing 
an ardent love for the people, and a devotion to civil 
liberty. They stimulate the prejudices, and assi- 
duously court the favor of the people, with a view 
to their own aggrandizement; and, if successful, al- 
most invariably become unrelenting oppressors. 
In a word, tiiey commence demagogues, and end ty- 
rants. In our own times this truth has been exem- 
plified by Napoleon, in Europe, and in the brilliant, 
l3Ut short-lived career of Iturbide, on this continent. 
Both were "mditary chieftains" of great renown. 
Professing to be the devoted friends of the Peo- 
ple, the champions of civil liberty, and the defen- 
ders of the rights of man, they succeeded in delud- 
ing their too coniiding countrymen, until ihey reach- 
ed the goal of their ambition — power, when, for the 
tirsttime, they unmasked, and a betrayed people 
beheldtheir treacherous leaders crowned Emperors, 
and armed with the sceptre of absolute auUiority, 
supported by the forces wiiich a mistaken confi- 
dence had confided to their control. These ex- 
amples, with others familiar to those who are at 
all conversant with history, ancient or modern, 
ought, and it is hoped will, prove instructive, as 
they are solemn warnings to the people of this re- 
public. A new faction (a party, if they please) 
has been organized for the avowed purpose of in- 
vesting a mere " military chieftain" with the Chief 
Executive authority of the nation ; one whose lust 
of arbitrary power'has betrayed itself in every pub- 
lic act of his life — a man who has treated the con- 
stitution as an " old parchment;' unworthy his 



O^ 

perusal and beneath his respect. Yet, to subserve 
Ills ambiiion, he and his adherents profess an af- 
fection for the people, and a reveience for the con- 
stitution, equally wonderful and sudden. He as- 
sumes the captivating appellation of the " people's 
candidate" — they, with equal propriety, call them- 
selves " people's men," and " friends of State 
rights." Fortunately, their headlong impetuosity 
so far outstrips their discretion, as to expose their 
designs too palpably to escape the observation of 
those who are not blinded by their zeal, or hoodwink- 
ed by interest. Their impatience under disap- 
pointment, their desire of preferment, and reckless- 
ness ot the means, admonish us how little their ac- 
tions are governed by love of the people, or res- 
pect for the constitution. 

No sooner was the late Presidential election de- 
termined, than General Jackson resigned his seat 
in the Senate, (as he had before resigned every ci- 
vil office conferred on him,) without having made 
a solitary exhibition of the talents which had been 
imputed to him by his adherents, and hitherto un- 
fortunately concealed from the rest of the world. 
As he accepted a seat in the Senate pending the 
election for President, and resigned as soon as the 
contest was over, we have a right to infer that it 
was accepted, not with a view to the public good, 
but from the influence which was hoped from his 
personal presence at Washington, and was accord- 
ingly resigned as soon as it was known that he 
could not overawe the Representatives of (he peo- 
ple. Surely if his friends really believed him poss- 
essed of the abilities to entitle him to the office of 
Chief Executive Magistrate, they owed it to him, 
to themselves, and to the nation, to have used their 
exertions to have retained his services in a station 
eminently calculated st once to promote the com- 



33 

non weal, and to manifest his pretensions to pub- 
lic confidence. Or, will they admit the humiliating 
lactj that his retirement from an office to which he 
was by no means equal, was dictated by prudence, 
»^r was suggested by ihe mortified ambition of a ca- 
pricious man, goadt^d by disappointment. 

If Gen. Jackson really believes in the imputed 
corruption of the present Administraiivm, as he and 
his adherents pretend, it whs neither the part of a 
statesman and patriot, to abandon ihe important 
station which he declared was not to he sought or 
declined by any man; nor was it consistent with his 
professed love of the people, to desert the post 
which had been assigned him, to guard them against 
all unconstitutional encroachments of power. No — 
it cannot be disguised, that the man who was suf- 
ficiently honored in bemg nominated for the Presi- 
dency by a single state, has resigned an office much 
above his just expectations, to avenge in some sort 
Che affront which his overweening ambition has 
received in not being placed at the head of tiie na- 
tion. He will be President or nothing. In the very 
act of resigning his seat in the Senate, he announ- 
ces, that he does not decline, but continues to setk 
the office of President; and, by way of appealing 
from the intelligence to tlie generosity of the nation, 
makes profession of ardent love for the people, 
and reconmiends them to alter their coristituiiun, 
under the provisions of which his ambition has 
been bafiled. He states as a reason for his retire- 
ment, that his proposed alteration (by previous ar- 
rangement, no doubt) would be brought before the 
Senate, and delicacy forbid his taking part in their 
deliberations on the subject; which is nothing short ^ 
of an admission, that his only hope of success de- | 
pends on the alteration of the constitution, and 
that he is, therefore, directly interested in the ques- 
tion, 



34 



The proposition which comes thus recommended 
by the autliority and necessities of Gen. Jackson, is 
— 1st. To discontinue the use of electors, the even- 
tual vote by states, and the umpirage of the House 
of Representatives. 2d. To adopt an uniform mode 
of electing by districts, and to commit the election 
to the direct vote of the people. The first branch 
of the proposition evidently designs " to give the 
election, unconditionally and absolutely, to the pow- 
erful states," and was justly denounced by Col. 
Benton in his speech of 1824,* " because it goes 
to the subversion of the government under which 
we live,'* and " would unsettle one of the com- 
promises on which the constitution reposes," The 
second contemplates to deprive the states, as such, 
of the power of appointing elt^ctors, and of uniting 
or dividing their electoral colleges, according to 
their sovereign will. Both branches, indeed, pro- 
pose to circumscribe the power of the states in the 
Presidential election, and, taken together, would de- 
stroy their very existence, so far as the Executive 
Department of the national government is concern- 
ed. There is, therefore, every thing in the propo- 
sition to render it hateful to the real " friends of 
state rights," Yet no sooner did Gen. Jackson an- 
nounce, that the adoption of this principle-subvert- 
ing, state-consolidwtir/g amendment, might possibly 
aid his promotion, than a committee of the SfMiriie, 
with Col. Benton at th-^ir bend, all the soi-disant 
*' friends of state rights" rallied to his support. 

*P^' I of this ?pf»erh was publishe<< in t'^e M.^souri Repuh" 
lican. of t e 18t!i July lasf, and as I • ?I! n.quenrly quote 
from it in this number, I refer the read^ > to tliat paper, or 
to'^tbe entire s-i^ftc i, in panphlet f >rm, oubUsho! and dis* 
triivUed nv 'he wjithnr in ISiM. f consiil . if a Iridiiiph \nt 
\in'l'?calio« d lb- •.-igh- t> ^n-" s, which neither he, nor 
any of the band, can sufficiently refute. 



'do 

Indeed the talent of enforcing discipline araouar, and 
implicii obedience from, his followers, which distin- 
guishes Gen. Jackson, has in no instance been 
more conspicnously displayed than in this rat his 
coiiinnand, ihf whole of hisadhf^rents (including the 
awkward squad under MrDuffie and Kremer,) 
wheeled about, with the promptitude and precision 
)f veteran troops, and countermarched the whole 
ine of their political course, treading under fo<»t the 
irinciples they professed, and destroying all the 
jolitical land-marks hitherto held sacred. 

Sv me of the sincere friends of state rights have 

'ntertained fears that the states, as sovereigns, have 

•onceded too much, in the Federal Constitution, to 

he representntive principle, which they honestly 

ear will t'^nd to consolidation. Their struggle has, 

herefore, constantly been, to prevent the appre- 

lended evil, by preserving to tlie states, unimpaired 

• nd inviolate, all the powers reserved to them. 

fhey have uniformly exerted themselves to pre- 

ent the accumulation of power in ihe G neral Go- 

ernment, or the diminution in that oi the states, 

ither by construction or additional express provi- 

ions in the constitution — certainly none have 

liiheito desired a change by which the power of 

he states should be impaired. This consolidating 

»r.»ject owes it its origin, exclusively, to ihe miscall- 

d *' people's m-n." They would deprive th^^ sfatPS 

f the power of appointing electors to vote in the 

irst instance, and to destroy their present equality, 

s sovereign St ites, on a second trial — so that the 

mall states "may stand far nothing,-' and "the 

dection of President be given, absolutely and iin- 

•onditionally, to the powe:ful states." Yet, they 

ire bold enough to call themselves exclusively the 

fiends «f state rights. 



36 



To rpndpr the proposed innovation more accept- 
able, and at the same time to support the pretence 
to the yppellation of " people's men," claimed by 
the authors, it is proposed to discontinue the use of 
eh^ctors, and commit the election to the direct vote 
of the people. This, it will be seen, possesses 
little or no substance, and certainly is too weak to 
carry its companions. The election is now virtu- 
ally in the people; they choose electors, who are 
previously pledged to vote for a particular candi- 
date, and never fail to redeem their pledges ; they 
are but the organs through which the expressed 
voice of the people is conveyed to the seat of Go- 
vernment. All the benefits, therefore, proposed 
by the alteration, are now substantially enjoyed ; 
a mere difference in form will certainly not autho- 
rize an intermeddling with the constitution. There 
is also a diinculty growing out of the plan propos- 
ed, in case of no choice on the first trial. Col. 
Benton (or rather Gen. Jackson) proposes to refer 
the election back to the people, limiting their 
choice, however, to the two highest of those voted 
for; but, waiving all other objections, (and there 
are many to which this expedient is obnoxious,) 
it '^ staiuls condemr.ed" as another attempt to a- 
bridge the fieedom of choice, by requiring voters to 
give their suffrages, not f(»r the man in their opinion 
most worthy and best qualified, but for one of two 
having the highest number of votes — to use the lan- 
guage of Col. Benton, against a similar propositirn, 
ii) 1824, " the range of selection was narrowed one 
half by the amendment of 1803, an-i now it is pro- 
pospd to take away the right altog<-ther." 

Col. Benton in his speech of 1824, already re- 
ferred to, siys, " there are positive advantages in 
referring the election to the House of Representa- 
tives ; it is a safer depository of the elective privi- 



a? 

lege than any other body of eqiuJ numbers, which 
exists at this lime, or can be created under the con- 
stitution." '' If it is said, that there may be s^rae 
bad materials in the House, I will esk for the body 
of equal numbers in which there is so little? And I 
will maintain that the House of Representatives has 
ever been.now is,and while the Republic lives,it must 
continue to be, for talent, for integrity, and for ele- 
vation of character, the first body of men, of equal 
numbers, which either exists in our own or any 
other country in the world." " To my mind, there- 
fore, there is no place more safe for depositing 
the right of the states to decide the Presidential elec- 
tion, than the House is." — Now, mark the change: 
In 1825, after his reconciliation with Gen. Jack- 
son, and the Chieftain had dictated the course to 
be adopted by his followers, the same distinguished 
gentleman holds the following lanijuag»^: '* It be- 
comes a question which addresses itself to the mind 
and heart of every lover of his country, wiether 

y Congress (meauinp the House of Representatives,) 
can be safely trusted with the choice of Chief Ma- 
gistrate of this great and growing Republic." " The 
House," says, he, " stands condemned, because it 
is capable of being corrupted," and '' of being tam- 
pered with" — liable to the influence of candidates 
— "is subject to violence, and capable of coali- 
tions. — " I'his is the language of Mr. lientou's cele- 
brated report, which recommends thaf the umpir- 
age of the Hou-^e of Representativ-s be discontinu- 

_ed. Now, although a comparison of the speech 
with the report, both in matters of fact and argument, 
would result greatlv to the advantage of the former, 
(perhaps for the reason that it was produced by 
honest convictions,) yet, I woi^ld not absolutely in- 
sist, th-^t the H(»U!>e is the safest umpire whichcould 
possibly be created. " The great principle for 
D 



38 



which I contend, is, that after one trial by the peo- 
ple, the next shall be by states;" but, I submit, that 
it is highly objectionable to strip the House of Re- 
presentatives of the power until a less objectionable 
substitate is proposed. 

An alteration of the principle on which the elec- 
tion of President now reposes, in the manner pro- 
posed, although not literally unconstitutional, would 
violate a principle as high and as sacred as the 
Constitution itself. By depriving the small states 
of their power and equality in the election of Presi- 
dent, you take away one of the principal considera- 
tions which induced them to accede t(» the Union, 
and, by consequence, dissolve their obligation to ad- 
here to it. ^' Every body knows," says Col. Ben- 
ton, " that without compromises, the Constitution of 
'87 could not have been framed, and it is fair in- 
ference, that unless these compromises are preserv- 
ed inviolate, the Constitution must perish." Now, 
it was one of '' these compromises" which gave 
the election of President, in the first trial, to the peo- 
ple, upon the Federative and Representative prin- 
ciples combined, and upon a second trial, referred 
the election to the states as equal sovereigns. The 
preservation of this principle, if not necessary to 
the existence of the Union itself, is at least indis- 
pensable "to the safety and rt'Spectability of the 
small States," and " imposes a salutary restraint on 
the ambition and violence of the poWeiful ones." 
If the federative principle, already confessedly the 
weakest, be not firmly maintained and supported, 
it will sink under the attacks of pretended friends j 
the states, overpowered and destroyed, will dwindle 
to mere corporations, or the confederacy be dissol- 
ved. There will be no hope of the durability of 
be Union, if the *•' people's men" are indulged in 
their work of spoliation. 



39 

Tiie dangerous tendency of the proposilion which 
the predicament of General Jackson seems to render 
expedient, and therefore acceptable to his party, 
cannot be better illustrated than it has been by Col. 
Benton, in the speech from which I have quoted. He 
has demonstrated, that " it is necessary to the safe- 
ty and respectability of the small states that they 
should stand for something in the Presidential ^lec- 
tion" — " that if their rights, as now guarantied, are 
not preserved inviolate, the constitution must per- 
ish, and that the contingent right of voting by states 
is one of the main pillars which now supports the edi- 
fice of the constitution." Yet, lie is willing to re- 
duce the contingent power of this state from one 
twenty-fourth, to one eighty-seventh of the electoral 
voice of the Union; to exchange one vote out of 
twenty-four for three out of two hundred and sixty- 
one ; to barter her equality with New York for one 
twelfth of her relative strength ; to sacri6ce ^' the 
respectability and safety" of the small states, (in- 
cluding Missouri,) and make them stand for noth- 
ing in the Presidential election. In a word, the 
political Sampson oi the West, blinded by zeal or 
interest, has grasped the fairest " pillar which now 
supports the edifice of the Constitution," and lends 
his mighty powers to the dejnolition of the temple, 
and ** the subversion of the government under 
which we live," that his new favorite may rise on 
its ruins. 

CURTIUS. 



/"■•' 


''I ' 


// 


/ 


« 


// 


^•,^ 


i 



10 



No. V. 

li" the people have just cause to distrust any oi 
the public servants, it must be those who have de- 
veloped their evil propensities, by the treacherous 
desertion of their friends and principles, and the 
fawning baseness of attaching themselves to their de- 
clared enemies — men who, after having jostled, re- 
viled, and criminated each other, in their struggles 
for preferment, united their skill and cunning to 
create and foment confusion in the administration 
of the government. Yet the Opposition, (who are 
sufficiently designated by this description,) after 
subduing, with wonderful forbearance, the smart- 
ings of the deep and still fresh wounds, which they 
bad received from each other in very recent politi- 
cal conflicts, and endeavoring to conceal the de- 
formities exposed by their battles, by decorating 
each other with the trappings of panegyric, set up 
an exclusive claim to public confidence ; and, mo- 
destly proclaiming themselves to be the very "quint- 
essence of integrity, wisdom, moderation, and firm- 
Bess," undertake, radically, to reform the govern- 
ment. According to the new and sublime system 
of politics which they have adopted for the occa- 
sion, the National Government has been blundei- 
ing in error ever since its organization under the 
Constitution, and a tot-:! change in the existing or- 
der of things is held essential to the preservation of 
the Republic. Considering, however, the very 
suspicious circumstances under which th( se unre- 
formed gentlemen present themselves as reformers, 
the people (whom they have insulted by assuming 
to act in their name) had a right to expect some 
evidence of their danger in continuing a state of 
things under which they have prospered near fortv 



41 



years, or at least a proposition for improvement 
commensurate with the lofty pretensions of their 
volunteer guardians. But, as if they expected the 
people to resign the use of their eyes and ears, and, 
without knowing why, resolve to believe every 
thing which might favor their ambition, they an- 
nounced a list of imaginary grievances, without at- 
tempting to support them otherwise than by a parade 
of declamation. With apparent earnestness they un- 
dertook the task of reform, but their labors, as 
might have been expected, proved to be " the par- 
turience of a mountain, and the never-failing deli- 
very of a mouse." 

During the last session of Congress, the same 
.committee who reported the proposed amendments 
to the Constitution, which were considered in my 
last number, were instructed to inquire into the ex- 
pediency of reducing the patronage of the Execu' 
live Government of the United States. This com- 
mittee, with Col. Benton at their head, betook them- 
selves to^exploring the Statutes, the " blue book,'- 
and the records of tlie different Departments, in 
search of " food for pre-conceived opinion," and, 
after some weeks of unremitting exertions, they dis- 
covered causes of great alarm. First, in the duty 
required nf the Secretary of State, to cause the or- 
ders, laws, and resolutions, passed by Congress, to 
be published in one, and, if necessary, in three of 
the newspapers printed in each State. Second, in 
the limitation of the duration of office of the faithful 
collectors and disbursers of public revenue. Third, 
in the mode of appointing deputy postmasters. 
-Fourth, in the manner of appointing cadets. Fifth, 
^ in the present mode of appointing midshipmen. 
And sixth, in the terms of the commissions of the 
officers of the army and navy. These, in the opin- 
ion of the committee, " tend to sully the purity of 
D2 



A2 

our institutions," and are so pregnant with imnnii-* 
nent " danger to the liberties of the country," as 
to require the imnnediate interposition of the Na- 
tional Legislature. Accordingly, when they tra- 
vailed, they brought forth a litter of six little bills, 
which were read, laid on the table, and sufferred to 
expire for want of nourishment. The report which 
accompanies them, (for any reasons it contains in 
their support,) might have been manufactured in 
Dousterswivel's newly invented steam-loom for 
weaving novels.* It is composed almost entirely 
of new and not very happy combinations of the va- 
rious epithets which have been employed by the Op- 
position, in all their reports and spf^eches against 
the Chief Magistrate. INeveriheless, the whole^ 
taken together, may be considered as a fair speci- 
men of the wisdom, moderation, and disinterested- 
ness of the ^^ people's men." 

It has been the fashion of the Coalition (includ- 
ing their printers,) to cry down the presses autho- 
rized to publish the laws, as the hirelings of corrup- 
tion. The editors who were the most troublesome 
and noisy in their application for selection to print 
"bv authority," are nov^^ the most clamorous and 
vehement in den'Jucialions oi ihair successfijl conj- 
petitors. in«ioeu, if the opposition are to be be- 
ji»^ved, the edit'TS and publishers of newspapers are 
all Swiss,, reatly to support any party, or aiiy cause, 
for a vtry snial! reward ; and ihe [)resses,,'^ the mov- 

* AccortTins: to the description of this machine, as given 
by the " GreatUnknown," uords and phrases, intended to 
l)e often repeated, are to be "placeti in a ^ort of frame 
woik,', and the operator changes their combination by a 
mechanical process, sinoilar to " that !>}' wliirh weavers of 
daiua.'ik alter their patterns," whereby any variety of de- 
clamation m;jy be produced, while the author. " tired of 
iht^" prififless " labor of ptin;piiig-his" oxhansted " brains, 
may have an agreeable relaxation in the use of his fingers, '' 



43 



ing power of human action/' are convortcci into so 
many engines of corriij)tion the moment tlicy are 
authorized to print •' by authority." Yet, the "peo^ 
pie's men" in the Senate, are anxious to increase 
the number of these corrupt machines, provided 
they have the selection of the editors to he corrupt- 
ed. They propose, that " the number of papers 
to be selected to publish the laws, &c. shall not 
be less than three in each State, and may be equal 
to half the representation of each Slate in Congress; 
In each Territory, one, and in the District of Co- 
lumbia, three, the selection to be made by the Sena- 
tors and Representatives from each State, and the 
Delegates from Territories: the papers in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia by the Secretary of State, he giv- 
ins: a preference to those having the greatest num- 
ber of actual subscribers."* In other words, as 
they have exhausted their private resources in esta- 
blishing a calumniator-general at Washington, they 
wish to create branches in each of the State?, at the, 
public expense^ for the innocent purpose, doubtless, 
of enlightening the people in the choice of Presi- 
dent.! It will be remarked, however, that they do 



* Quere : How is (he number of actual subscribers to 
be ascertained / It is b( lieved that very few actually sub- 
scribe in their own proper hand-writing. Thf names fffn- 
erallv are put down hy the editor himself Ifhislistbe the 
criterion, there are editois, whom we wot of, that have wry 
iew actual subscribers, and yet would profit by thearrange- 
menr, even though an affidavit should tte required. 

t M mbers of Congress have now, virtually, a great 
«hare of patronage, which is nominally in the President. 
Mo^t of the subordinate officers, at least, are appointed up- 
on their recommendation, and the exertion of the influence 
of some of them, in procuring appointments, hav not had 
avery happy influence in establishing their own disinterest- 
edness, or the purity of their favorites. 

The appointment of late sub-ag' nt to the lowas, and the 
iate Receiver for the Western T,and District, may be cited 
as instances, which should siler.c the Chairman of the Com 
j-fiiitiee en the subject of abuse of patronage, 



44 

not restrict themselves to the selection of papers 
" having the greatest number of actual subscribers:" 
this wholesome regulation is confined to the Secre- 
tary of State. The wisdom and disinterestedness 
of the contrivers of this scheme will be manifest, 
when it is observed, that the members of Congress 
in each State must necessarily be convened when- 
ever a printer of the laws is to be selected, and it 
cannot be expect^-d that they w>ll render such im- 
portant service, as they give their advice to the 
people g}-aiis. 

The committee, after the fashion of a certain 
gpeech-coinpihng Senator, have made a pompous 
display of long extracts from books in the pijsses- 
sion of every member of the Senate, communicat- 
ing information, ignorance of \a hich, in any member 
of Congress, would be culpable. One of th^se is a 
long list of revenue ofiicers, and iheir emoluments, 
taken fiom a register Hnmially published " by au- 
thoritv," for the information of the pe(>|)le, which 
the committee call the " blue book," a nickname 
suggested to the learned chairman by the color of 
the cover, but cf^rtainly unfit to be employed in a 
Stite paper, and unworthy the dignity and gravity 
of^' the most enliuhtened deliberative body in the 
world." — Apparently astonished at their discovery, 
the committee exclaim, " a formidable list indeed ! 
f( rmidable in numbers, and still more from the vast 
amount of money in their hands.— The action of 
such a body of men, supposing them to be animat- 
ed by one spirit, must be tremendous in an election: 
and that they will be so animated is a proposition too 
plain to need demonstration." They inf -rm the 
Senate, that this branch of the Executive patronage 
will increase, '* not in arithmetical ratio, but in geo- 
metrical.progression ; an increase almost beyond 
the power of the ir.ind [of a Senator] to calculate 



45 



or comprehend.-' Afier this, it might have been 
supposed, that they would recommend a reduction 
of the " formidable list," or^ at least, a curtailment 
of the emoluments as the '' natural remedy." No 
such thing. Th^y only propos*^, " that the Presi- 
dent shall lay before Congress, once in every four 
years, the accounts of the collectors and disbursers 
of the revenue, and to vacate the offices of such as 
have failed to account according to law — that, upon 
nominations tii'fill vacancies, occasioned by remove- 
als, the President shail state the reason of such re- 
niovals — and to repeal the act of 15th May, 1820, 
limiting the term of ofBce of certain officers;" that 
is, they recommend no change in the existing law, 
except to continue in office, during good behavior, 
district attorneys, collectors of the customs, naval 
officers, surveyors of customs, navy agents, regis- 
ters and receivers of the land offices, and certain 
officers of the general staff of the army, whose terms 
of service are now limited to four years. 

Another bill provides " that no person shall re^ 
ceive the appointment of Postmaster, where the 
emoluments exceed a certain amount per annum, 
except upon the noniioation of th-^ President, by 
and with the advice and consent of the Senate." 
The Executive patronage is thus to be rerh/ced, by 
taking the appointme'U of d-puty post-masters 
(exrppt the sm^ll fry) from the Postmaster-Gennra}, 
and vesting tlie power in the Presid-nt and S'Miate 
— the same President, " whosf soirit," they say, 
" will animate the actions" of officers appointed 
by him, " in the elections of St.-^ieand Federal offi- 
cers," and the very Senate which they report un- 
fit to be trusted, because, they say, that until " the 
axe is laid to the root of the tree," [the constitu- 
tion] and the Presid-nt elected by the People, "pa- 
tronage will penetrate this body, subdue its capa- 



46 



eity of resistance, chain it to the car of power, and 
enable \hf^ Pr<-sident to rulp as easily, and much 
more ser-urely, with.than without the nominal check 
of the Senate." 

The " tremendous power" (in elections) of the 
cadets and midshipmen (youths between fourteen 
and twenty-one years of age,) is another of the 
evils which " sully the purity of our institutions, 
and endanger the liberties of the country," and has, 
therefore, not escaped the vigilance of the " Peo- 
ple's" committee. On this subject, they propose a 
brace of bills, not to diminish, but to distribute the 
contaminating influence of Executive patronage 
among the several States, by apportioning the ap- 
pointment of cadets and midshipmen among them, 
according to the whole number of Senators and 
Representatives inCongress from each btate — "the 
appointments to be so made, as that one cadet and 
one midshipman shall be taken from each electoral 
district, or one from each Congressional district, 
and two from the State at large, if not divided into 
electoral districts, and one from each territory." 
After this, who will doubt the wisdom of the 
"people's men ?" 

There are, to be sure, some slight inconvenien- 
ces, such as the possibility that some States will be 
unwilling, or unable, to furnish their quota ; this 
may be remedied by a draft. Again : the number 
can never be inc^eased, however urgent the neces- 
sity, without a new census and apportionment of 
ReptPsentaiives, and then, perhaps, it might be re- 
quired to make a new allotment, so as to have each 
district represented. Peradveuture, the representa- 
tion of some of the Stutes in Congress may be re- 
duced, which would require a corresponding re- 
duction of boys representing them in the navy and 
the military academy. But these inconveniencei 



47 

afe counterbalanced by the advantdges, which are^ 
that there will be precisely as many boys in thf' ar- 
my as in the navy, and as many little d iggers in each 
as there are tongues in Congress — ihus equalizing 
admirably the military, naval, ajtd legislative de- 
partments. To complete the plan, it willonly be ne- 
cessary " to commit the election" of the boys," to 
the direct vote of the people." 

The last of the committee's bills, provides, "that 
the officers of the army and navy shall hold their 
offices during good behavior, and that no officer 
shall heieafter be dismissed the service but by the 
sentence of a court martial, or upon an address to 
the President by both Houses of Congress." To 
justify this measure, it ought to have been shown, 
that the power of the President, of striking officers 
from the rolls, has been, or is likely to be abused. 
It certainly has not been exercised by the present 
Executive, and never by his predecessors, except 
in flagrant cases, that of Gen. Hull, for exHmple„ 
Indeed the very power v\ arbitrarily dismissing irr 
officer has been justly denied by the Senate, t /an 
in the case of a reduction of the armv. Ifilicir 
proposed plan prevails, supernumerary officers could 
certairdy not be disbanded, otherwise than by a 
sentence of a court martialj or an address of both 
Houses of Congress. 

The committee inform the Senate, that the '^na- 
tural remedy" for the evils of which Miey complain, 
would be, " to place the election of President in 
the hands of the people" — that, " considering the 
present m<'de of electing the President, as the prin- 
cipal source of all this evil, (namely. Executive pa- 
tronage,) they had commenced their labors by I'e- 
commending an amendment to the Constilntion in 
that essential and vital particular." Despairing of 
success, however, they say, " not being able to lay 



48; 

the axe to ilie root of the tr^e, (the conclusu»n,j 
they must go to pruning among t he limbs and 
branches : not being able to retorm the Constitu- 
tion in the election of Piesident, they must go to 
work upon his powers, and trim down these by sta- 
tutory enactments.'' The meaning of all which is, 
simply, that these six bills are but temporary expe- 
dients to " prune" the patronage of the present 
Chief Magistrate, and divide the trimmings among 
themselves, by way of staying their stomachs, until 
the happy period when the feast shall be ready, at 
which I hey expect to gratify their appetite for 
office, and revel in the rich honors which are to re- 
ward their disinterested labors 5 that happy period, 
when " the axe shall be laid to the root" of the 
Constitution — the Ci)mpromises on which it reposes 
unsettled — the principles of the government sub- 
verted — and, as the natural consequence of anar- 
chy or Consolidation, the military chieftain (miscal- 
led the people's candidate-,") elevated to the Presi- 
dency. Thf^n ti)ey promise us to restore all the 
^' liujbs and branciies" of Executiue patronage 
which, in the meantime, shall have been lopped off. 
Then the ''• pe.ople's men" will apprehend no dan- 
ger from " Executive patronage," although it may 
be operating " on fifty millions of revenue," and 
*' the civil and military officers of the Federal go- 
vernment shall be quadrupled*" increasing " not in 
arithmetical ratio, but in geometrical progression." 
The gr^'at evil, iliey say say, of " an election by the 
States," is, that it so corrupts the successful candi- 
date that he perverts the Executive patronage ex- 
clusively to the preferment of such as are either 
knaves at the time of their selection, or become 
such as soon as they are appointed, and devote 
themselve.-i, and th»-ir offices, to the set vice of their 
patron. On the other hand, " an election by 



49 

ihs people" so purifies the object of their favorj 
tiiat his patronage is confined to men of integrity., 
or, if by chance he should appoint any who are 
otherwise, they are immediately made worthy, and 
well qualified, by his purifying influence, and apply 
themselves exclusively to the duties of their offices, 
carefully avoiding any interfeience in "State or 
Federal elections." As instances of the rectifying 
effects of " an election \fy the people," the same 
committee have assured us, that the members of State 
Legislatures, chosen by "the direct vote of the peo- 
ple," are generally traitors to their constituents ; 
that the members- of the popular branch of Con- 
gress cannot safely be trusted ; that they are capa- 
ble of being tanlpered with, and were lately actual- 
ly corrupted. Truly the " Report," in the lan- 
guage of Lord Byron^' 

< " Is a fine sample, on ttje whole, 
Of Rhetoric, which the learn'd call rigmarole." 

After all, it may well be doubted, whether they 
ever intended seriously to urge the passage of any 
of these bills, and certainly they never calculated 
on, or perhapseven wished, their adoption. Sensi- 
ble of the convenience of enveloping themselves in 
a mist, that they may "loom large," and appear to 
their admiring followers of more than ordinary size, 
they submitted their project that they might indulge 
in declamation, carefully avoiding th^ plain ground 
of reason and argument, on which they would ex- 
pose their diminutiveness Surely they did not in- 
tend to throw dirt into the fountain out of which 
they have all been anxious to drink, and expect to 

^ slake their thirst for office, when their idol shall 
have the distribution of the pure refreshing waters. 
In making their f^int they were careful, however, to 

, provide r)r themselves, if peradventure the people 
should believe them to be in earnest, and take thetii 
at their word. 

E 



50 

But the intention of the Coalition " to lay the axt 
to the root of the tree," (meaning the Constitution,) 
wears a more serious aspect. The term " election 
by the people," is used in contradistinction to an' 
election by the " House of Representatives," and is 
artfully employed to delude the people, and cover 
the attack on the Federative principle of the gov- 
ernment, which they wish to overpowerand destroy. 
The eventual right ofthr? States to determine the 
election, has always been offensive to the friends 
of consolidation. They have now united with 
those who wish to promote a favorite to the Presi- 
dency, and who, reckless of the means, are unwilling 
to"subvert the government under which we live," as 
the only hope of attaining their end. The pretence of 
pnri(y'mg (not reducing) the Executive patrorjage of 
the government, is seized upon as f. heir justification. 
The complaint is, that a President elected by the 
States, will appoint his friends to office, who in turn 
Support him. But experience teaches us, that a Pre- 
sident elected by the people is not more inclined to ;; 
favor his enemies or slight his friends. J^^fferson, 
Madison, and Monroe, were all elected ^' by the 
people ;" the first dispensed his patronage on the 
avowed principle of preferring the friends of hi? 
administration, and excluding his enemies. His 
conduct was approved, and who will impeach his 
integrity ? Mr. Madison followed his example, 
and his administration has been lauded by the whole 
nation, except Gen. Jackson, who. when it became 
convenient to flatter his successor, discovered that 
he was not competent to preside in time of war, but 
that Mr. Monroe was ! ! The executive patronage 
during the administration of Mr. Monroe, seems to 
, have been specially exercised in favoring his friends, 
and particularly those who had favored h";s preten- 
sions in his competition with Mr. Madison, in 1812. 



51 

They were sought out and appointed to oftlce, and 
some of ihem gave but poor specimens of integrity 
or talents, although their patron was elected by the 
people. Yet nobody complained of the President as 
either corrupt or corruptible. Between the two 
modes of choosing a President, regarded merely w? 
means of making the best selection, there has been 
no opportunity of judging until the late election; 
wherein i he States preferred as President Mr. Adams 
to Gen. Jackson, the statesman tothe soldier; {\wpeo- 
^Zc preferred as Vice-President, Mr. Calhoun to Mr, 
Gallatin, or Mr. Sanford, or any body else — a de- 
magogue rather than any one of a host of patriots 
and statesmen. The President refuses to prosti- 
tute the Executive patronage to purchase the sup- 
port of his enemies, and they " go to work upon his 
powers" and reputation, and propose to" trim these 
down," because he would not corrupt them. The 
Vice-President joins the Coalition, and prostitutes 
his office to advance their purposes, and to gratify 
his own unholy revenge. This political 
" lago Hoth give up 

The execution of his wit, bands, heart, 

To this great council's service ;" 
And thus became a conspicuous member in full 
communion among a band of neck-or-nothing poli- 
licians, who assume the name of " people's men," 
that they may get the people's offices, with their 
appurtenances, the emoluments. 

CURTIUS. 

Correction. — In the first line of p. 48, for ''conclusion,"' 
.-end " consiitulion.'' 






No. VI. 



Politicians who aspire to the character of staies;- 
meo, should undoubtedly pv)S?ess politicHl princi- 
ples, deep-rooted in their minds, and be uniformly 
consistent in their practical application. Pru'es* 
aions are indeed seldom wanting, but unfoi fjnat* ly 
they are often unsupported by corresponding nrac- 
tice. Some, without posses!?ing any principles of 
their own, profess those which pr vail in the State 
in which they happen, for the time being, to re- 
side-, and change their creed with every change of 
residence, or accommodate themselves, with won- 
derful facility, to any temporary exigency, and, for 
the occasion, repose their faith upon any principle 
which may, in their opinion, siihserve the imme- 
diate interest of their constituents, or promote their 
O'vn popularity. Others commence their political 
career by professing principles in perfect accord- 
ance with those of their constituents, and afterwards, 
by their public acts, practically deny them ; and, 
at the same time, insult the understandings of those 
whom they misrepresent, by manoeuvering to keep 
up the appearance of consistency, r.ith a full con- 
sciousness that their original professions were eith- 
er in direct opposition to their real opinions, or 
that their principles (if they had any) have been 
changed, or prostituted, in consequence of bargains 
or associations, which the)' dare not avow. The 
former deserve contempt for their instability, or, 
perhaps, (in charity,) pity for their weakness; 
while the latter nieiit disgrace and punishment for 
their treachery. On mere questions of expediency, 
involving no constitutional principle, public servants 
cerluiuly may, without just cause of imputation. 



53 

change their opinions, if it be -done upon honest 
conviciiun of error. Indeed it may, and often 
does, on such questions, become their duty to vote 
against their own judgments, in obedience to the 
expressed will of their constituents ; but questions 
involvins: the construction of the constitution ad- 
mil of no such indulgence. Every man who as- 
pires to the honor of representing the people, 
ought, and is presumed to, possess established pwn- 
ciples on this subject ; and as, by the theory of our 
government, every representative is supposed, as 
he is obliged by duty, to reflect the opinions of 
his constituents, a candidate is bound frankly to 
avow his political creed. If he is chosen under 
such circumstances, his principles are impliedly 
sanciioned, and he stands pledged to e. strict con- 
fornjiry in his public acts; nor will \he obligation 
be discharged by -a mere observance of the letter, 
and abandonment of the substance — by setting up 
fanciful distinctions where there is no difference; 
neither is he at liberty to forsake. or comprij^ise his 
approved tenets, in any change of cUcumslances, 
or of rulers, much less can he surrender them to l]ie 
dictation of others, without forfeiting every claim to 
consistency, or even political honestj, and subject^ 
ing himself to the just reprobation of his constitu- 
ents. " Tried by these axioms," most of the con- 
federates, soi disant " people's men," and especial- 
ly the gentlemen whose erratic political course 
more immediately concerns the people of this State^ 
will " stand condemned," as undeserving public 
confidence or support. 

Repeated decisions, by overwhelming majorities 
in both Housf^s of, Congress, approved by two suc- 
cessive Presidents, and sanctioned by nine-tenths 
of the people of xhe United States, seemed to have 
j>ettled the question in relation to the contested pow 
- E2 



54 

er of Congress on the subject of roads and caiiabj 
in favor of a constitutional competency to adopt a 
system of internal improvement, and the expedien- 
cy of exercising it. At least four of the candidates 
in the late Presidential election, (Adams, Clay, 
Jackson, and Calhoun,) favored the prevailing doc- 
trines. The election of the first to the Presidencv, 
and the appoin»raent of the second to the office of 
Secretary of State, (although they continue true to 
their principles,) have produced a coalition among 
the disappointed, which will renew the discussion, 
and pel haps ultimately endanger the success of the 
system of improvement, unless the people intei pose 
their authority. Jackson and Caihounj with their 
adh«-rei)ts, determined to organize an Opposition to 
the Adaiinistration, but, conscious of their own 
weakness in numbers and in lalt^nt, thought it expe- 
dient to obtain, at any price, theco-operation of men 
whose principles were opposed to their own as well 
as to those of the Administration. A coalition was 
accordingly formed upon terms dictated by John 
Randolph, namely : That liie Administration 
shi uld be opposed l.y the conft-deratps in every 
thing, right or vvrong, and General Jackson sup- 
ported for ihe Presid: ncy at the n< xt elt^ction — he 
and Calh'^un, with thti friends, rt nouneing, or at 
least abandoning, in practice, their tenets on the 
subject of the tariff, internal improvenunts, &c, 
Mr. R. soiMi after manifested his fidelity, by an- 
nouncing, publicly, an intention to support General 
Jackson ; but it seems that si-me of the contracting 
parties, in their anxiety to keep up appearances, 
and the better to delude the people, began to 
" play fast and loose" with thei«- engagements ; 
which be " of the fitful head" naturallj enough 
mistook for duplicity, and promptly chastised them 
into a lively sense of the obligation of their con- 
tract, and tliteatened Jo abandon the w-hole of 
■hem, (Gen.Jackson included) if they did.not aban- 



55 



vion iheir support of domestic raanufdclure?, roacisj 
and Cfinals.* 

On the bill to aid the State of Illinois in the con- 
struction of a Cfinal to connect the waters of Like 
Michigan with those of the Mississippi, Messrs. 
Kane and Benton were indulged in voting for its 
passage, (the subject being too near home to be tri- 
fled with,) by whicli means a tie was produced, and 
the bill defeated by the casting vote of the Vice 
President, as it had been previously arranged it 
should b.^. Afterwards, the whole coalition, in- 
cluding Col. Bent*>n, voted against, and defeated, 
the bill to repair the Cumberlavd road ; by which 
it was proposed to put and kepp }n order ihut 
great avenue, then in a stale of dilapidation, by 
collecting tolls, and to prevent tr punish future in- 
juries by the impositioM of adequate penalties. This 
road has ever been the special favorite of the West- 
ern Strites, and thev are equally desirous to extend 
and preserve h. It will also be remembered, that 
Col. Bencon himsoif, while Editor of the St. Louis 
Enquirer, and a candidate for the Senate, in antici- 
pation of the Slate Government, boasted that be 
haJ wrought upon the great iNational highway from 
its commencement, and pledged himself to continue 
bis labor until it should reach the western confines 



* Mr. Randolph is perpetually reminding his ne^^• friends 
of thett engagements, and is piovokingly careful lest his 
"friend indeed" should give him the slip, or. as GeneraJ 
Jackson would sav, '-forfeil his allegiance." I ^ his speech 
on the Judicial system, Mr. R. says, ' But, while 1 vote 
with my friend from Missouri on this question, I wish to hold 
him [to his contract understood] when we shall come to 
anoth'-r question— whether it bp the Dismal Swamp Canal 
bill, or the Potomac and Ohio Canal bill, or sojne other of 
these Gerrymanderings of the States into Districts, by ca- 
nals and roads " Cnl. Benton, it seems, was held, and will 
ftnntiiiue to beheld, or forf-it his claim ''to the use of apy 
. thing Mr. R. has, without the ceremony of asking leaye^' 



56 

of ihis State, or even the Pacific. *It is sairl that be 
. slill professes the same principles, and equal zeal ;, 
that he still maintains the constitutional competen- 
cy of Congress to construct roads, but denies their 
right to collect tolls to keep them in repair, which 
he contends can only be done by annual appropria- 
tions out of the National TreasuPy. All power on 
the subject of internal improvements has been de- 
nied by the opponents of the system, because, they 
say, none has been expressly. delegated to Congress, 
and is, therefore, reserved to the States exclusively; 
consequently, its exercise by the National Goveru- 
menl is an invasion of state rights. Col. B. insists 
ihatthe contest^-d power is clearly implied in those 
. i^xpressly delegalt-d; that the construction of .» 
road is not, but the erection of a tull-gate upon it 
is, an encroachment on state rights. He admits^ 
that the main power is maintained by construction-^ 
why he stops half-way, and excludes the incident, 
requires explanation. With submission, it wuuld 
seem to be a sticking to the letter, and a surrender 
of the substance — an attempt to establish a distinc- 
tion without a diff'irence, wliich betrays a tot^ 
want of confidence in the principle insisted on, and 
gives manifest advantage to its adversaries. A pow- 
er to construct roads and canals, necessarily implies 
a power to repair and preserve them, and the 
choice of the means as a necessary incident — the 
greater includes the less, and the. accessary follows 
the principal. 

The course pursued by Col, Benton in relation 
Ao this subject, considered as a question of expedi- 
ency, wiH be found to be strikingly at variance with 
his coj[>templated reform in the management of the 
National finances, and.his pretended attachment to 
economy in the public expenditure. A real econo» 
^nlMst would suppose, that, after a joad or canal is 
constructed at the coramoo expense of all, those 



I 



-57 

who enjoy its benefits should keep it in repair, t or- 
eigii commerce pays, by the name of lonn:ige duty, 
imposts, and customs, (which are no other than 
taxes or tolls,) nwt only ftjv the creiU'cn Rud prt^scr- 
vation of iis facili'ie^, but d» frays all the expenses 
of gov=-rnruent, supports its credii, a; -3 h rapidly 
pay;i>g off the National cU bi. Surely it is not too 
much lo require, that internrij commerce sbouid pay 
for tije preservation of its laciiilies, at'icr they are 
provided at the jNaticn's expense. Even corres- 
pondence between the citizens is taxed, not cijly to 
payfor the nieans afforded, bu; to s nabU members 
ot' Congress t> transmit cart-loads of pamphlets 
and electioneering speeches, to subserve their pri- 
vate purposes without private exptnse. The Post 
Office establishment is made to i>i»pport itself by 
taxing bitejs; why should not roadj> b<^ kept \u re- 
pair by tolls? An artt mpt has already brtn "made 
by Col. Benton to produce exci'empnt against the 
Administration, which, be says, "in these ' sl^y 
ligiit,' or rath* I, sky rocket times," " is <?ireunnoa" 
vjgating the globe, and vaulting against the Flea- 
yens, to find out objects of exp'^ndiiure.''* He even 
seiz! s on the amount of the National debt, as a to- 
pic of declamation and denunciation. Yet h«^ con- 
tinually advocates measures to multiply demand? on 
the Treasury and diminish its resv.urces : his plan 
of keeping the public roads in repair, .is,an exam° 

r ♦ This " sky rocket" flight will be found i'^ a pamphlet, 
cntilUd, '• Speech of Mr, Benton, of ^]iiS(^ul■\, delivered in 
the Senate of the United States (in secret session,) on the 
mission to Panama," (fiist edition, p. 52. and second edi- 
tion, p. 41-2,) and refers to the expense of the mission. In 
a note, the orator says, " this topic [and of course this ter- 
lible flourish,] was pretermitted in the spoken speech, but it 
isdeemei* necessary to a ffiir view of the mission, to insert 
it here, namely, in the book circulated at public expense. 



5vS 

pie of the ODP, and his schenje of giving away the 
pu-blic lands, i.f the oth-^r. 

No gre-j'.er amount of' public mo".py can, with 
any propriety, be applied to internal irnprovem*^nt5 
than will be vjfScient for the gradual advancement 
of the system. If it is ir.sisit'd, that li^ere shall be 
additiunal appropriations f >r ke;=pin2 thf m in re- 
pair, there is dtr.^er that we shall be forcefi to abaii- 
^on th^in altogether, or resort to internal taxa'ion, 
(direct tax and excise,) to pav off the public debt. 
The roads and canals now in contemplation as Na- 
tionfil v\<>rks, will net only require large sums of 
m(»ney to construct them, but the expenses of their 
preservation will increase wiih the progie^s f.f the 
work, and the whole, when completed, will proba- 
bly r<-quire not less than a million of dollars, annu- 
ally, to keep them in rep lir. If those who use 
them foi their own pleasure, or profii, were requir- 
ed, like those who enjoy the benefit of the Post 
Office estabiishment, to pf<y a small tax or toll, re- 
pairs might be made without aid from ihe Nati^^isal 
Trea-ury. Thus there might be saved (in a very 
short time) a sura equal to the expenses of the Pa- 
nama mission, now so much complained of, by Op- 
position orators and editors; in a few yedrs the an- 
nual saving W'.uld equd the whoje expense of our 
foreign intercoorse, including contingencies — and 
would, eventually, t^qunl the expenses of the legis- 
lative, ex-ecutive, judicinl, and diplomatic depart- 
ments. Surely it is better at once to resort to 
practicable means, and such as will certdinly be 
adopted by ih:^ Stales, if the National government 
is compelled to abandon the system. When States, 
or corporations, construct roads or canals, lolls are 
levied not merely to keep up repairs, but for the 
purposes of revenue — consequently, they would be 
double, perhaps fourfold, what it would be necessa- 
ry for the General Governrnent to exact. 



59 

We are informed by Col. Benton, in his speech 
on the bill to graduate the price of public lands, 
that the National debt " is increased instead of di- 
minished, for it was seventj-six millions at the end 
of the Revolution, and it is eighty millions now !" 
This statement, in the mere letter, is true ; but, if 
taken in its spirit, and in connexion with the whole 
tenor of the discourse, it is evidently designed to 
impute to the Administration gross mismanagement 
of the public finances, and insinuate, that the public 
debt has been increased without the intervention of 
any cause to justify it — an artifice certainly unwor- 
thy the statesman, and unbecoming any noan hav- 
ing no sinister designs : but his object is to persuade 
the people of the existence of disorders in the Go- 
vernment, which cannot be corrected without the 
iiid of his herculean powers, and to effect his pur- 
pose nothing is left unessayed. No part of the pub- 
lic debt has been contracted by the present Ad- 
ministration ; on the contrary, during the three first 
i|iiarters of the year 1825, upwards of eleven mil- 
lions of dollars were paid on account of the prin- 
cipal i*nd interest. On the first day of October, 
1825, the onlv portion remaining unpaid of the Re- 
volutionary debt, was thirteen millions two liun- 
dred and ninety-six thuusand *two hundred and 
thirty-one dollars and forty-five cents. The 
residue of the public debt, contracted subsequent 
to the 1st of January, 1812, (being the war debt, 
and the loans made to pay the i^lorida claims, un- 
der the Treaty with Spain,) which remained un- 
paid on the 1st of October, 1825, was sixty millions 
six hundred and eighty-nine thousand three hundred- 
and six dollars and twenty-seven cents.* So that 



* See the last annual report of the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury. In the statunent extracte<l, I have omiite>1 the sub- 
scription of seven millions in the United States' Bank, as 
the government has an equivalent in an equal amount of 
tisares in the institution 



60 

ftear sixty-three miilions of the Revolutionary debt, 
the whole of the public debt contracted between 
the years 1793 and 1812, including the Louisiana 
slock, and about one-half of that contracted since 
.1812, have been paid off, besides the " one hun- 
dred and thirty-six millionsof dollars paid in inter- 
est." 

That more has not been paid, is, perhaps, owing 
rather to the exertions of such politicians as Messrs. 
Calhoun and Benton, than any other cause. Both 
have contributed largely to lavish expenditures of 
public money; the one^ by his contracts ; the other 
by his votes and speeches, especially where favorites 
could be profited. The fii-st, as Secretary at War, 
made the celebrated Rip-Rap contract, by w'hich 
hhe United Slates lost many thousand dollars. The 
same economist contrived to allow Messrs. John- 
sons, of Kentucky, upwards of two hundred thou- 
sand dollars (equal to five hundred dollars, or up- 
wards, a man,) f\)r the transportation of troops from 
Bt'lle Fontaine to Council Bluffs, a distance of 
about fivt' hundred raiV'S.t The latter, as Senator, 
advocates measures avowedly for the sole purpose 
of spending " Government money" among the 
people. If we may j^i^dge frdiii his public acts, he 
holds, that the benefits of a measure are always in- 
proportion to the amount of public money they will 
occasion to be circulated. He treats the General 
Government as an alinn enemy, and every appro- 
priation, especially if to be expended in the west, 
as lawful pi-ize : hence the frequent invasions of 
the treasury, no matter how impracticable, or use« 



t Col. Benton denounced this transaction at the time- 
but his displeasure is now forgotten or appeased, and the 
^o economists are in close alliance, off'trisite, if Dot defen* 



Gl 



less, the ostensible object may be.* Yet these ineu 
declaim against the Administration, because the 
public debt is not paid, and endeavor for that cause 
to excite discontent am()ng the people, and destroy 
their confidence in the most worthy and exalted 
statesmen in the nation. 

The Tariff is another of the favorite measures 
of the western people. It was originally proposed 
and supported avowedly as a protection and en- 
touragement of domestic manufactures, and 7iot as 
a revenue measure. It seems to have been thus 
understood by Col. Benton, and was advocated and 
supported by his vote in the Senate, on its true 
principles. It has now been but two years in ope- 
ration, and has already contributed much lo the 
prosperity of commerce, agriculture, and manu- 
factures. It has benefitted commerce, by de- 
creasing imports and increasing exports, and 
is thus equalizing the balance of trade ; it has 
r^^animated the drooping spirits, and stimulated 
the enterprise, of manufactures ; it has encour- 
aged agriculturists in the pleasing prospect of 
a home market for the productions of the soil. 
Domestic manufactures have increased in quantity, 
and improved in qu^ility, and will continue to in- 
crease and improve, as long as protection and en- 
couragement are afforded, ^' not in arithmetical 
ratio, but in geometrical progression," until an am- 
ple market will be furnished the farmer and planter 

* Mr. Randolph, after several times, in the same speech, 
reminding liis friend from Missouri «if his wishes on the 
subject of r. ads and canals, says, *' whenever any proposi- 
tion s'lall be got up to creatr- expense here, chere will always 
be some plausible reason urged for going into the expense, 
becaus" somebody will always have to furnish the mate- 
rial." "This is'the u.ikinjest cut of all." Surely the 
** wonderful man" might have spared his " friend indeed" 
this cutting repr-'aach. 

F 



m 



for tlieir produce— a prosperous commerce psub 
lished in the export of manufactures — and the na- 
tion become completely independent of foreign 
powers, in peace and in war. It will be remem- 
bered, that this truly " American system" was ori- 
ginally opposed by the enemies of domeslic man- 
ufactures, on the ground that it was not a revenue 
measure, but was intended as legislative protection 
to domestic industry, which, it was insisted, was 
not within the constitutional power of Congress. 
The inexorable r. Randolph now demands that 
it shall be abandoned, together with other measures, 
as the sine qua non of his adheaion to the coalition, 
and Col. Benton promptly renounces the principles 
upon which it was founded by its friends, and main- 
tained by himself: he only tolerates its existence, 
for the present, as a revpuue measure^ and pledges 
himself to reduce it one half, when the public debt 
shall be paid by making donations of the public 
lands — he contemplates diminishing the receipts, 
^vhile he continues unnecessary expenditures. 

Upon an attentive examination of the facts be^ 
fore us, it is impossible to resist the conclusion, that 
the whole coalition stand pledged to oppose all in- 
ternal improvements and domestic man'ifactures ; 
that such of them as have heretofore professed to 
be their warmest supporters, have compromised 
their principles (real or pretended,) deserted their 
constituents, and surrendered themselves, unreser- 
vedly, to the dictation of the adversary. Some^ 
indeefl, are making abortive efforts to keep up the 
appearance of consistency, and attempt to delude 
the people, and escape their just indignation, by 
hollow pretences of maintaining their principles as 
originally professed, according to the letter, and set- 
ting up distinctions where there is no real difference. 
They admit the power to construct roads and ca. 



ffi" 



63 

.)als, and deny aii authority over them after they 
are made. They profess to be the friends of do- 
mestic manufactures, and acknowledge the consti- 
tutional conjpelency of Congress to impose duties 
on imports, for their protection, but are opposed 
(() any tariff which is not absolutely necessary as a 
revenue measure ; which is nothing less than an at- 
tempt to compromise between their duty to their 
constituents and their allegiance to their faction, 
produced by a wish to conciliate the people, on the 
one hand, and a fear of the desertion of their con- 
federates, on the other. Professing this strange com- 
pound of opposite principles, it is not surprising, 
that in attempting to reduce them to practice, they 
should find themselves bewildered and confused in 
the mazes of their erratic course, and be unable to 
extricate themselves from the difficulties with which 
they are environed, by their strange absurdities and 
irreconcileable contradictions. Such will ever be 
the fate of politicians, who, without fixed principles 
to guide, or prudence to control them, sacrifice their 
duty to their ambition — abandon measures for the 
sake of men, and stake their political hopes on the 
success of a desperate enterprise. 

CURTIUS. 






/"t^^ D^._. .r?f^ 






'/ 



Hi 



a\o. VII. 



Statesmen who, like the President ancl Secretary 
fcf State, have, through a long period of >»nblic life, 
sustained a spotless reptUation — have been distin- 
jguished throughout Europe and America, for their 
talents, their integrity, and their virtues, and re- 
markable for the candor, frankness, and fearlessness, 
with which they have, at all tinnes, avowed and main- 
tained their opinions and principles, cannot be 
justly suspected of designs hostile to the public 
good, or dangerous to the liberties or political exis- 
tence of the country, until some overt act o( folly 
or depravity is established by unquestionable evi- 
dence. Until then, those who affect to detect sinis- 
ter design, artifice or stratagem, in every proposal 
of such men, must be considered as furnishing, by 
their suspicion, an undubitable token of their own 
political depravity, as deriving their conclusions 
from the consciousness of their own disposition, 
and imputing to others the inclination which they 
feel predominant in their own bosoms. Such isthe 
source, and such the character, of all the charges al- 
leged against the Administration by the " people's 
men." 

Unable to obtain power, the object of all their de- 
signs, by regular means, they endeavored to prepare 
the public mind for their own preferment, by fabri- 
cating, and industriously circulating, calumnies de- 
signed to overwhelm with obloquy hII those whose 
talents and virtues have secured to them public con- 
fidence. Hitherto they have been defeated as of- 
ten as their charges were reduced to specific accu- 
sation, and the statesmen to whom this nation is so 
much indebted, rose triumphant from the contest. 
Though discomfited, however^they were not subdu- 



65 

ed, nor have they relinquished their favorite mode 
of annoyance ; but availing themselves of every 
opportunity to unite the disulTected, to form a 
" compact of union, league, and confederation," be- 
tween all those whose ambition has been baffled, the 
commencement of the last session of Congress dis- 
covered a coalition, such as was never before wit- 
nessed, avowedly organized to oppose the Adminis- 
tration in all its measures, right or wrong. The no- 
mination of ministers to Panama was seized upon as 
a fit occasion for renewing the attack, and this mea- 
sure, dictated by the interests of the nation, sanc- 
tioned by the policy of the late President, and sup 
ported by the whole nation, was assailed by insinu- 
ations of suspicion, that the present Administration 
was about to engage the nation in entangling 
alliances, abandon its neutrality, and involve us 
in war. 

It is not my purpose, nor is it necessary, to enter 
into arguments in support of the mission ; its expe- 
diency has been unanswerably vindicated, and tri- 
umphantly maintained by the President and Secre- 
tary, and by a host of disinterested Statesmen in 
both Houses of C()ngress, whose principles have 
not been overcome by their predilections for one 
raHn,or their dislike fur another, and who are wilhng 
tojudge the tree by its fruits — the Administration by 
its measures. A recurrence to facts, in the recollec- 
tion of all, will demonstrate that the opposition to 
this measure does not arise from any love of coun- 
try, or real apprehension of danger, but from the 
ambition and self-love, or the envy and revenge, of 
the confederates; and, by a reference to the con- 
stitution, it will be seen that no alliance can be 
foimed without treaty, and no Treat) made obligato- 
ry without the ap|)robation of two-thirds of the Se- 
nate ; nor can troops be raised or supplies furnish- 
F 2 



66 

ed for the purposes of war, without the previous 
sanction of the National Legislatute* — consequent- 
ly, all arguments urged against this mission, on the 
ground that such a treaty might probably be form- 
ed, would apply with equal force to any mission 
whatever, and amount to objections against ail fo- 
reign intercourse, which must be conducted by the 
agency of ministers, the President and Senate, all 
of whom are as liable to corruption in one case as 
another. 

When the late President announced to thp world 
that this nation would not view with indifference 
an attempt by any of the powers of Enrope to in- 
terfere between Spain and her late colonies, tlie de- 
claration was approved and cheered by the whole 
nation, and by none more heartily than by the lea- 
ders of the Opposition. Aware, however, that 
iheir present course is at war with the determina- 
tion indicated in this declaration, they now affect to 
consider it as a mere vapouring ; and, to escape 
from the imputation of inconsistency, attempt to 
convict the late President, the people and them- 
selves, of idle gasconade ; but it was not so consi- 
dered by the Holy Alliance, or by any other nation 
on the globe ; it has had its effect only because 
this nation, in the opinion of the Allied Powers, ma- 
nifestly stood pledged to second it by action. Al- 
though a recurrence to these facts is by no means 
necessary to justify the mission, in which an arraH« 
nient against the Holy Alliance cannot be contem- 



* Ft is trne that General Jackson did once appoint officers, 
embody troops, and muster them into ti^e se: vice ofthe United 
States, without any law, or even the orders ofthe President 
—a usurpation which might be repeate.i to a more alarming 
and dang^erous extent, if this oation should confer on him 
the office of Chief Magistrate ; but it is a pt-ecedcjnt not 
iikely to be followed byf hose who understand ^nd reverence 
the constttfstion. 



67 

plated, because all apprehension of danger ffom 
that quarter has ceased ; yet it will serve to show- 
bow far the Opposition were once disposed to 
go, in order to guarantie the itid ptndence of the 
Spanish American States : whether ihey would 
have avail'-d themselves of the pitiful subterfuge to 
which they now resort, to skulk out of the conse- 
quences of the pi dge, if the Allies had disregarded 
the menacing attitude which this nation assumed, 
rannot now be determined. But it seems they are 
willing to forego all iniercou se with their once fa- 
vorite republics, although this nation has become 
immediately interested in their movements, and es- 
pecially in their contempl.jted plan of prosecuting a 
just war, by invading the colonies of J?pain, imme- 
diatt ly in tlie vicinity of our own bordt-rs. Thus, 
the election of Mr. Adams to the Presid'^ncy has 
lot only reversed their principles and changed their 
opinions on the policy of this Government, but has 
evaporated all their solicitudti and enthusiasm for 
the new Repu'olics. 

Tiie Assembly of American nations at Panama 
Is known to have originated in separate treaties, 
formed by Colombia with other Spanish American 
States, Chili, Peru, Guatemala, and Mexico. The 
two first were promulgated in July, 1823; the 
third in April, 1825, and the last, in September, in 
the sam'^year. They stipulate, that " an assembly 
shall be formed, composed of two plenipotentiaries 
for each party, in the same terms, and with thesame 
formalities, which, in conformity to established 
usages, ought to be observed for the appointment of 
ministers of equal class, [plenipotentiaries,] near 
the governments of foregn natiions." The par- 
ties '' oblige themselves to interpose their good offi- 
ces with the governments of the other states of 
America, formerly Spanish, to enter into the conv- 



68 

pnrt of union, league and confederation;" and, as 
soon as this great an<l important object has been at- 
tained, *"' a general assembly of Spanish American 
States shall be convened, composed of their pleni- 
potentiaries,"* to be charged, in addition to their 
general powers, with certain specific duties in rela- 
tion to the confederated States. It is maniff^st, 
therefore, that this assembly is not to be held for 
the purpose of forming- alliances, even amotig the 
Spanish American Republics. " A compact of 
union, league and C(mfederation," was formed by 
\he same treaties which stipulate for the meeting of 
iheir plenipotentiaries at Panama, and, as soon as 
this great and important object," (the alliance be- 
tween all the statfs of America, formerly Spanish,) 
3h'>ul(i be attained, and not till theUj was the gene- 
ral assembly to be convened. 

As siH)n as the two first of these treaties were 
]&romulgated, the contemplated assembly attracted 
the attention, and excited the solicitude, of all states- 
men of this Union. — By them it was thought to 
present a favorable opportunity for settling many 
important questions of national law, ('at least among 
the nations of the two Americas,) by " the consen- 
taneous adoption of principles of maritime neu- 
trality." It was hoped and believed, that "the 
doctrine, that free ships mrtke free goods, and the 
restrictions of reason on the extent ot' blockades," 
which has long been contended for by this nation, 
at the expense of much blood and treasure, might 

* These quotations are literally taken from the transla- 
tif)ns furnished the Senate, of the treaties made by Colom- 
bia with Chili and Peru, the two first in the order of time, 
creating the Congress ; particular words are pur in italics, 
because they are considered by Col. B. material to the char- 
artf^r and power of the assembly ; and it will be seen by re- 
fen ing to his prefatory note, that they are truly tianslated 
according to his own showing. 



69 

be establihhi-d among the American Rc-pMblics ; that 
, the disastrous consequences justly apprehended by 
the southern states of this Union, from the contem- 
plated invasion, and probable conqufst, of Cuba 
and Porto Rico, by the Spanish Americ^m States, 
in the emancipation of the slaves, and possible re- 
npwal of the shockins; scpu^s of St. Domingo, might 
be prevented. They, therefore, maintained that 
the policy of the United States required that they 
should be represented in that assembly ; and when 
it became known, that our government had receiv- 
ed an invitation, for this purpose, its acceptance 
was universally desired. The Opposition immedi- 
ately seized the occasion to assail the Administra- 
tion, in their favorite mode of attack. Their press- 
es, accordingly, commended operations, by insinua- 
tions, intimating a suspicion that the public will 
would probably be defeated. Some of the editors 
in the immediate neighborhood of General Jackson, 
at length boldly and distinctly assorted, that the in- 
vitation would not be accepted ; and, as if assured 
of the fact, denounced the Administration as 
guilty of an unpardonnble offence, in contemplat- 
ing: a refusal. This was considered as a signal from 
the chief, and the Panama mission became the ral- 
lying point of the whole coalition, not (as now) to 
oppose, but to support it, against the Administra- 
tion. Whf^n the President announced the accep- 
tance of the invitation, they contented themselves 
by directing their attack on the power supposed 
to be asserted, to appoint ministers without the ad- 
vice and consent of the S-^nate. But, when, after- 
wards, this point of attack was removed, by the no- 
mination to the Senate, they became infuriated by 
tiieir disappointment, and arrayed themselves against 
the once favorite missi<^n. 

Aware, however, th it th^ir consistency might 



70 

justly be questioned, the more considerate of the 
leaders thought it expedient to oiler an apology of 
some sort, for the sudden revolution in their opin- 
ions, and this, as usual, was found in the irresistible 
arguments of their confederates. The speech of 
Col. Benton on this subject, (of which two entire 
editions have been sent by mail from Washington, 
and circulated in this state, to the manifest abuse 
of the franking privilege,) :nay be considered as a 
fair specimen of the spirit in which the Opposition 
has been conducted, and the mode of reasoning by 
which the confederates pretend to have been con- 
vinced. This gentleman commences by saying — 
" I had not expected to speak in this debate ; and 
if I had spoken among (he first, it would have been 
on a different side from that on which I now ap- 
pear." Now, it will be observed, that true transla- 
tions of the treaties of Colombia with Chili and 
Peru, which create the Congress, were published 
in the principal papers of the United States, as 
early as the year 1824, and were undoubtedly read 
and studied by him, long before the nomination was 
made ; consequently, the mission, " as represented 
in the President's message, and the publications of 
the day," could not have misled him. Indeed, bis 
determination to oppose it appears to have been 
made as early as that of any of the confederates; 
for, by a reference to the journals, it will be seen, 
that from the very commencement of the debate 
to the time his speech was delivered, (which was 
nearly, or quite the last,) he voted uniformly with 
the Opposition, in every question, including Mr,- 
Van Buren's resolution asking the opinion of the 
President about the publication of documents. — 
The conclusion is therefore inevitable, th^t the de- 
cided change was not wrought in his mind by " time 
and rtflecliuu;'' and, notwithstanding his pretence. 



.t*^ 



1 



that it was tlie conimlttpe's report A'luch "fust sf. 
liim a thinking," he appears to have been as ready 
to vote against the mission before the commence- 
ment, as after the close, of the debate. 

The diplomatic character of the assembly is de- 
nied, although in the treaties it is declared to bean 
assembly of ple?iipofe?iiiaricSj which the orator ad- 
raits to be the very definition of a diplomatic Con- 
gress, and even maintains that republics are incom- 
petent to create any other. lie insists, that the so- 
vereignty of the nations to be represented will not 
be present at Panama, " for these States are repub- 
lican, and republics are incapable of exercising tlve 
right of sovereignty ex territoriality.'^* The com- 
mittee hold a different opinion. They say that, in 
a certain event, " the United States will be the fiist to 
solicit the assembling of a Congress of American 
States ;" and the gentleman himself says, " Minis- 
ters known to the law of nations can represent the 
sovereignty of their nations at any point upon the 
globe. They may come from the four quarters of 
the globe, and form a diplomatic assembly." He 
enumerates the different grades of " ministers 
known to the law of nations," among which are 
plenipotentiaries, and says, "the essential charac- 
ter of each, and the rights of all, are equal," yet, 
contends that the assembly at Panama will be of un- 
.equal grades, although ii is to be composed of two 
plenipotentiaries for each party, appointed with the 
jarae formalities, and comtnissioned in the same 
form and manner, as are required by established 

* This appear^ to he a peculiar favorite phrase with Co.], 
Bentou, often repeated in his speech, and has probably been 
.coined by himself, or borrowpd from some foreign lan- 
.guage. It was ct^rtainly as necessary that he should have 
;rendered it into English, for the information of the public, as 
it was to give the signification of the word " aniipoder' 
Sox the edification of the Senate. 



7> 



usageSy in the commission of ministers of equal 
character (grade) among otlier nations.* He ap- 
prehends, that entangling alliances will be entered 
into, yet denies ihe pt)ssibility that any treaty what- 
ever can be formed by the assembly at Panama. 
He maintains, that '' the advising power is a high 
one, and little less than a power to control and go- 
vern the event ;'^ and, therefore, is unwilling to 
advise the appointment of plenipotentiaries, unless 
the Senate are permitted to ^' control and govern'^ 
their instructions, by way of guarding in advance 
against being deluded into the ratification of some 
disastrous treaty, and to establish the principle of 
controlling the Executive in the exercise of this 
part of his constitutional functions. But, it seems, 
be would btf willing new to advise and consent, 
" that an agent, or commissioner, be sent to Panama, 
without diplomatic character or privilege, in the ac- 
iive, subtle, and penetrating frm of an unofficial 
agent, speaking the language of the country, and 
establi>hing himself on the basis of social inter- 
com se,/« every mudster'sJ'umUt/" — a kind of" lob- 
by minister," or licensed s})y to '* hang about" the 
assembly, "talk" with the ministers, and " send 
home reports of all he saw and did!!!" Such are the 
absurdities and contradictions in which gentlemen 
involve themselves, who prepare to speak on one 
side of a question, and by some untoward cir- 
cumstance, ('^such as the controlling influence and 
authority of an inexorable dictator,) are forced to 
argue on the other. 

Notwithstanding Col. Benton's anxiety to keep 
out of view the jeal causes which produced "the 
decided change ia his mind," the nomination of 

* See the Treaties as published by the Senate, particu- 
larly the two last, and Col. Benton^ literat tra7islation o( the 
15th article of that with Guatemala, perfixe<i to hia speech. 



hiciiergprtni evidently contributed, in snme dpgiee,to 
.}»roduce tijis result. The preference of Mr. Sergeant 
to himself, as one of the Plenipotentiaries, seems to 

I have been considered as an unpardonable private 
injury ; and has brought upon the " nominee" two 
octavo pages of violent invective and intemperate 
denunciation, altogether gratuitous, or for the mere 
gratification of revenge for defeated hopes, as the 
ratification of the noruination was not then be- 
fore the Senate, nor were the remarks suggested 
by, or in anywise apposite to, the question pend- 
ing. That it was so considered by the Senate, is 
demonstrated by the fact, " that the vote on ]\Ir. 
Anderson's nomination was (only) one more in his 
favor than there was in favor of Mr. Sergeant," and 
that one was Mr. Benton's, the rest of the confeder- 
ates making no difference between the " no- 
minees." 

Another instance of the artifice and stratagem, as 
well as the consistency of our Senator, will be 
found in the fact, that the body of the printed speech 
contains more than one page devoted to the consi- 
deration of the expense of the mission ; '^ a topic," 
which he confesses, in a note, "was altogether preter- 
mitted in the spoken speech," as delivered in the 
Senate. Before th»* people, the expense is made 
one of the principal objections to the mission — a 
consideration which he was ashamed to urge be- 
fore the Senators, for whose edification the speech 
was professedly delivered. After exhibiting a 
statement of the whole expense of our diplo- 
matic intercourse with all thr? Spanish American 
Stares, including the Panama missiun, he says, 
^•' if this is economy, I know not the meaning 
of the word." Thus, by interpolating in a 
^' speech,''^ delivered in the Senate, that which 
was not " spokenj^^ he hopes to acquire ths 

G 



74 



name of an economist ; to take advantage oi 
the sensibility of the people on the subject 
of expenditure, at once to promote his own popu- 
larity and excite prejudices against the Adnjinis- 
tration.* The rea/ disposition of this gentleman, 
on thesubject of expenditure, has already been ex- 
posed in my sixth number : it may not be amiss, 
however, to state additional facts, which may serve 
fully tiJ illustrate his claim to the character of an 
economist. JMnmbers of Congress are allowed, by 
law, eight dollars a day for their attendance, and 
'^ eight diiliars for every twenty miles of estimated 
distance by the most usual 7'oad,'^ between their 
place of residence and Washington, going and re- 
turning. It seems that the members of Congress 
have construed this act to allow a comput^uiitn of 
distance by the course of the most crooked naviga- 
ble m'cr; and, under this construction, some, at 
least, of the members of Congress fron: Illinois and 
Missouri, (among them Col. Benton,) ascertain the 
distance between St. Louis and Washington Jo be 
about fifteen hundred miles, making the usual road 
foll>w the meanders of the Mississippi and Oliio to 
Wheeling ; and, according to this computation, 
they charge and receive pay — while the real dis- 
tance oetvvepn the two places, estimated by wh;it the 
people would understand to be the " tisunl roady^ 
does not exceed eiuht hundred miles. It Is proba- 
ble, that the compensation allowed by the plain im- 
port of the act is not sufficient; but the people have 
a right to be informed, by the language of the law, 
what they are to pay, and certainly, an economist 
ought not to connive at the continuance, much less 



* Iti tiie " Missouri AdvocatP," of 31st August, there is 
an editorial article which improves on the speech, by char- 
•ring to the Panama mission the whole expense of our for- 
eign intercourse, with atl nations, and shows that the Stnn 
i:>r can only be outdone by the Eiiiio:^. 



to participate in the benefits of this left-hand mode 
of increasing compensation.* 

The intolerant zeal with which Col. Benton com- 
menced and prosecuted his hostility lo the mission; is 
betrayed in his note, prefixed to the published speech. 
It seems that a suspicion (very unnatural to a mere in- 
quirer after truth,) was excited in his mind against his 
relation, Me. Clay, by whom the translations of the trea- 
ties were furnished to be sent to the Senate : " suspect- 
ing these translations to be loose and inaccurate," he ap- 
plied to the Colombian Minister for, and obtained, a 
copy of the treaty between Colombia iind Guatemala, 
in the original language, by which, he says, he " disco- 
vered errors far more material to the character and 
power of the assembly than he had supposed. t "To 
expose these," (and of course the arlijice of his relation,) 
he prefixes to his speech five articles of the treaty, ar- 
ranging the original, the translation sent to the Senate, 
and his own, in separate columns. Which of these 
translations is the best, it is unnecessary to inquire, 
since it will appear, that the two first treaties, in point 
of time, and as arranged among the documents sent to 
and published by the Senate, are correctly translated, 
according to his own opinion, which excludes the idea 
of any design "to lead the Senate" (as is alleged) " to 
an idea essentially erroneous upon the character of the 
assembly." The word assembly is employed in the 
translation of the two first, and congress in the two last, 



* These facts are stated upon the authority of Col. Ben- 
ton's own declarations. It is due to Mr. Barton to state, 
that althoue;h other members of Congress charge, in the 
n)cde alluded to, he has refused to exact campetisation ac- 
cording to it, but estimates the distance by the vsuaJ road. 

t The errors cnraplained of, as calcualted to lead the Se- 
nate to erroneous id» as upon the character of the assembly, 
are, that in the translations, Congress is twice used instead 
of Assembly, and the words " their" and "them" are«r- 
tirely omitted — that arbitrator is used instead oi judge-arbi^ 
tralor ; none of which supposed errors exist in the two first 
translations sent to the Senate. Jues Arbitro is, indeed, 
rendered umpire, which is at least as correct as judge-arbi- 
fraior- 



76 



of the treaties ; the tormer Col. Benton contends, *' hss 
no diploinatic sense," but the latter '• signifies an assem- 
ify •/ plenipotattimiis." Unluckily for this display of 
erudition, the contemplated assembly is called, ia two 
of the translations, '^ a gtntnU assembly,'^ and in the 
other two, ^''a general congreas of the American stores 
composed of their plenipotentiarks'^ — terms evidently 
synonymous, both indicating the diplomatic character of 
the assembly, in language not to be misunderstood, nor 
pervened by hvper-crincisra. Toe ajfectaiion of learn- 
ing, exhibited in the prefatory note, might be pardon- 
ed ; but the wilful suppression of fdCts, for the purpose 
of criminating an honourable man, and that man a re- 
itdiomt eanooc be excused or palliated. 

Sacb is ibc spirit which animates the whole coali- 
tioa ; and sucfa tbe means they employ to sustain them- 
selves, and overthrow cbe men they hate. Some cf 
them certainly possess, in an eminent degree, that spe- 
cies of courage which scorns to recoil from shame, and 
bave persevered to the dishonour of the principles Ojj 
which they formerly assaoaed to act, until they have 
been bcoogbt to the shameless avowal of a determioa- 
lion to oppose every measure proposed by the Admin- 
btration, no matter how direct and obvioas its tendency 
to the public good* — and ail of them are '* Prophets of 
evil, ibey foretell iio good, bat tbe joy of their hearts is 
to predict mJalbrtBoes," aad, to realize their predic- 
'tMMis, tbej use all iaipkmcnu which come to their 
baodh, and neglect no means which promise s-iccea. 

CURTICS. 



* S<?e MDuSes speech oa the Panama Mssioo, aadano* 
tTter oa tile aaeadiBeitt to the CoosxhotiaB, 



r ■ 



77 



TORCH LIGHT— No. YHI. 

According to the fundamental principles of our 
government, a President elected agreeably to the 
provisions of liie constitution of the United States, 
is as much the President of the people, as if he 
were chosen by their direct vote ; because, he is 
elected in the mode which they have themselves 
prescribed for ascertaining their will; and it is an 
insult to them not to respect, as their decision, a 
choice made by their agents, exercising the powers 
delegated, in strict conformity to the directions of 
the instrument of their constitution. Indeed, no- 
thing can be recognised as the public will, which is 
not constitutionally expressed as such. It was, 
therefore, to be hoped, that the present Chief Ma- 
gistrate would, in the proper exercise of his au- 
thority, have received the support of all those who 
claim to be the friends of the constitution, and es- 
pecially those who profess the principles upon 
which he has avowed his intention to administer 
the government; that the friends of the unsuccess- 
ful candidates would have accorded to him a liberal 
and rational confidence, which would have mani- 
fested their attach). ent to principles to be stronger 
than their predilections for men ; and that if, by 
the adoption of systems, and principles, hostile to 
the public good, and to those profssed and advo- 
cated by themselves, they were compelled to op- 
pose his administration, they would commence 
their opposition with candor and dignity, and sup- 
port it by truth and fair argument. These reason.^ 
able expectations have not, however, been realized. 
Gen. Jackson was, indetd, among the first to ex- 
G 2 



\';;i5 



78 



press his confidence in the ability and virtue of the 
new President — thus affording unequivocal testimo' 
ny that, in his opinion, he was fairly and honorably 
chosen. By many it was considered a magnani- 
mous resignation lo the public will, constitutionally 
expressed, and a pledge, tliat the Administration 
would be judged by its measures ; but it was soon 
after announced, that there would be " an opposi- 
tion such as was never before witnessed." Such an 
opposition has been organized, in which General 
Jackson participates, and reposes his hopes of fu- 
ture election on the profligate arts of the coalition. 
Mortified by the decision of the intelligence and 
patriotism, he seconds their appeal to the passions 
and prejudices of the nation. 

In a very few days after General Jackson had 
publicly accorded to the President the testimony of 
his confidence, we find his patriotism yielding to 
his lust of power — his principles renounced to gra- 
tify his revenge — his sense of justice overcome by 
ills passions, and his magnanimity evaporated by 
the warmth of his reseninif^nt. It was due to the 
people of the western States, thai they should be 
represented in the cabinet; they had given the 
most unequivocal testimony of their confidence in 
(he principles, talents, and integrity of Mr. Clay, 
by preferring him to all others for the Presidency, 
and assuredly, no man in the West, or perhaps in 
the nation^ was better qualified for the office of Se- 
cretary of StMte. But these considerations had nc 
weight wiih General Jackson, and kicked the beanij 
when his supposed private injury w;>s put in the 
opposite scale. It cannot be disguised, that his 
vote against Mr. Clay Wcts dictated by a spirit of 
resentment which subdued every consideration of 
public g'>od, or respect of public will. If Mr. Clay 
had voted for General Jacks m in the House of 
epresentatives, it would undoubtedly have been 



K 



79 

otherwise ; for, after the reconciliation of the latter 
with Randolph, Cobb, and Benton, there can be no 
doubt, but that the former mi<^ht also have purchas- 
ed his good opinion, if he had deserted his duty 
and given the lie to all he had hitherto said and done. 
If all that the worst enemies of Mr. Clay have 
ever charged upon him, were even conceded, (prov- 
ed it cannot be,) he would lose nothing by a com- 
parison with Mr. Benton or General Jackson, if 
one half of what tln^y have alleged and published 
against each other, be true. It may, therefore, well 
be supposed, that he might have purchased the fa- 
vor of either, or both, upoi> the same huniiliating 
terms on which they have btcume reconciled to 
each other. But, ^lr. Clay's opinions of General 
Jackson's pretensions are f rmed on facts establish- 
ed : he adopted them with deliberation, though not 
without reluctance — he maintains them with energy, 
yet with candor and dignity. With him "principles 
are injmutable ;" he chooses not to follow the ex- 
ample of men " changeable as weathercocks," 
though he has the assurance that he would thereby 
subdue the hostility of his most determined foes. — 
Those who have reason to fc*ar the accusation of 
their enemies, ought, perhaps, to purchase silence 
at any price, but Mr. Clay's integrity, and elevation 
of character, secure him against all the arts of his 
adversaries ; he has, therefore, no adequate motive 
to purchase exemption from their misrepresenta^ 
tions. 

We have seen that, before the late election, most 
cf those who are now the leaders of the Opposition, 
professed political principles, as well as personal 
predilections, of the most opposite character, and 
were more remarkable for their reciprocal hatred 
of each other, than conspicuous for their talents or 
virtues — that they professed no feelings in common^ 
but hatred and envv of Mr. Clay 5 some, because 



80 

they had felt him in debate — others, because of 
his humble origin, and all, because his talents and 
and popularity rendered him conspicuous as a can- 
didate for future promdtion. It is, therefore, more 
with a view to produce his ruin, than iagainst the 
Chief Magistrate, they have united their counstis 
and efforts. 

The Vice President, disdaining all respect to pub- 
lic opinion, even proposed, that he and his adhe- 
rents would support the administration, if the Sec- 
retary of State were dismissed. Thus their envy 
and hatred of one man has produced the m^st ex- 
traordinary coalition ihat ever exi^sted — has recon- 
ciled llandolph. Van Buren and Cobb, to John C. 
Calhoun, their enemy, and the reviler of Crawford 
— restored Jackson, Calhoun and Benton, to the 
favor of Rindolph, and of each other, and com- 
posed all their differences. Randolph, Cobb and 
Benton, all of whom have denounced Gen. Jack- 
son, for his insatiable lust of arbitrary sway, his 
tyrannical abuse of power, and his total ignorance, 
or contempt of the constitution and laws of the 
land, (^the latter for fifteen years his reviler, and 
once the humble follower of Clay,) have, with the 
rest, conceived a sudden attachment for the Milita" 
ry Chieftain, and formed a " compact of union, 
league and confederation," with him and his friends, 
to advance him to the Presidency, and bring ruin 
and disgrace upon Mr. Adams, and especially JVlr. 
Clay, at all hazards ; and the Chieftain, thus sud- 
denly invested with wisdom and moderation, as if 
determined to emulate the treachery and baseness 
of bis new votaries, and qualify himself for their 
support, distinguishes himself by the promptitude 
and f.cility with which he renounces his animosities, 
forsakes his principles, and attaches himself to his 
declared enemies. 

The means which they have employed m con- 



81 



(Suctmg their hostilityj It must be admitted, areoer- 
fectly consistent with the spirit in which it was con- 
ceived. Mr. Clay is charged with corruption, be- 
cause he preferred for the Presidency a statesman 
to a mere " military chieftain'' — a man who under- 
stands and respects the provisions of the constitu- 
tion, to one who stands accused, upoh liigh authori- 
ty, and, if not convicted, certainly not acquitted, 
of having, as a military officer, kept one army on 
foot contrary to orders, and levied another and ap- 
pointed officers without authority of law- — insulted 
the Governor of one state, and menaced the legis- 
lature of another; made war upon a neutral nation; 
violated the liberty of the citizen and of the press: 
put to death seveial individuals without the autho- 
rity of law, some after a mock trial, and others 
without even that formality — a man who knows 
not the difftrence between an alien and a citizen, a 
spi/ and a domestic traitor ; who cannot distinguish 
a citizen of a neutral nation, fighting in the ranks 
of a belligerent, from a pirate or sea robber; and 
who knows so little of the provisions ol the con- 
stitution and laws, as to suppose, that a traitor, or 
pirate, is amenable to a couit martial or the discre- 
tion of a military commander. All office-seekers 
themselves, the confederates denounce Mr. Clay 
for having accepted the appointment of Secretary 
of State, and accuse Mr. Adams of having corrupt- 
]y conffired it, as a reward for services in the elec- 
tion — thus imputing corruption, not only to the pre- 
sent, but to every administration since 1801, and 
especially to the departed apostle of liberty, Mr. 
Jeffiirson, who appointed to office several of the 
members who voted for him ; to Mr. Randolph, 
who wished to be favored in the same way, and to 
themselves, who are all ambitious of office, and by 
no means particular by whom it is conferred, or 
about the means by which they obtain it 



82 

Miiny of them (Jackson, Caihotin, and Bento^^ 
certainly) have been the avowt-d advocates of in- 
ternal improvements and domestic manufactures, 
and professed to feel for the new Republics the so^ 
licitude of partisans, and the enthusiasm of devo- 
tees ; and now submit themselves to the absolute 
dictation of John Randolph, the consistent enemy 
of them all, as well as any thing else favoured by 
any administration fur the last twenty-five years, 
and co-operate with him to defeat their once favor- 
ite measures. It has been shown, that, while they 
affect to admit the power to construct roads and 
canals, they deny it in substance, and contend for 
principles directly at war with their seeming ad- 
missions* — that the tariff, avowedly adopted as a 
protection to domestic industry, is now treated as 
a mere revenue measure, to be abandoned as soon 
as the state of the treasury will admit, without re- 
gard to the consequences which must ensue to ma- 
nufactures — ^thdt the solicitude of the people for the 
new Republics, and the interest of the nation in the 
deliberations of the contemplated assembly at Pa- 
nama, are wholly disregarded — that, instead of 
availing ourselves of the invitation to send minis- 
ters, it is proposed to forego all advantages which 
might be attained ; and, instead of treating the as- 
sembled nations as sovereigns, by sending ministers 
of equal grade with their own, it is propost»d to in- 
sult the new Republics, by treating tht^ir plenipo- 
tentiaries as a band of conspirators, and to send 



*Col. Benton has felt the necessity of some effort toes- 
cape from the consequences of his course on this suhject, 
and has republished in the Advocate of the 7th September 
1825, his speech delivered in January, 1824, to prove that 
he is a supporter of internal improvement; and he mi^ht as 
well, also, reputdish his speech delivered about the same 
timr" on the amendments of the coiistitution, to prove hi? 
present opinions un that aubject. 



among them a licensed spy, a kind of commissioned 
eves-dropper, to hang about the assembly and be- 
tray Us couuciis. Thus, the favorite measures of 
the per.ple (of the western States, especially,^ are 
not only abandoned, but violently opposed by ihe 
^' people's candidate" and the " people's men," be^ 
cause they are recommended by the administra- 
tion ; and opposition is demanded by a few souih- 
ern politicians as the consideration of their acces- 
sion to the coalition. 

Ni)t content with opposing every proposition 
emanating from the administration, or any of its 
friends, they have attempted, repeatedly, to dis- 
turb die order of things as it has stood, vi^ithout 
complaint, nearly forty years. They propose to 
reduce the Executive patronage, and divide it among 
members of Congress — to fransfer a part of the Ex- 
ecutive power to indivi'Jual members of the Legis- 
lature, as the best mode of creating confusion in 
the administration of the government. In a despe- 
rate eflort to increase {he chances of promoting a 
military cineftain, the constitution itself has hi en 
assail d, and ono of the main pillars which support 
that heauiiful edifice attempted to be torn away. 
Under the specious pretence of giving the election 
to the |)e(iplt', the equality of the States is proposed 
to be destroyed ; in the language of one of the con- 
federrites, now the chief promoter of the attack, they 
wisii " t«i subvert the government under which we 
live, by unsettling the compromises on which the 
constitution reposes ;" and promise us, that, when 
their w<»rk of spoliation shall be accomplished, the 
consolidated Stntca shall have a chief magistrate, 
who, like the King of England, '' can do wrong"^r- 
a man whose talents and virtues escaped detection 
during the first forty or fifty years of his life, and 
all traces of their existence either eluded the anx- 
ious researches of his biographerj or were of a 



84 



cliaracter to render oblivion desirable — -a nian. 
whose public life [if bis new friends are to be re- 
lied o[i,) has be*en conspicuous for its errors or 
crinies, in the habitual violation of the constitution 
and laws of the land. 

From the very commencement of the Opposi- 
tion, the favoiite policy of the confederates has 
been to assail the President and Secretary by cal- 
umny and misrepresentation, avoiding, as far as 
practicable, the reduction of tiieir charges to spe- 
cific accusati:>n,that they might not be encountered 
and exposed by truth and fair argument. Whene- 
ver any of them have an opportunity of making 
what is called a speech, no matter on what subject, 
they never fail to introduce some topic which may 
serve as an apology for a strain of declamation, to 
-pulogize each other, and denounce the Administra- 
tion. But hH their little arts aie thrown far in the 
shade by their factious and profligate attempt to 
impiicate the President and Secretary of State in 
the frauds mediiated by the deputation of the 
Creek nation, wiih whom a treaty was concluded 
at VVashiuiiton last winter. It seems that a tre^^ty 
was sii»hed on the 24ih of January, and submitted 
to the Senate next day. On the 3 1st March, a sup- 
plemental article was concluded and submitted to 
the Senate, and the whole ratified by that body on 
the 2 1st April. After the original treaty was 
formed, Col. Benton offered his services to procure 
the suppleiuental article to be adopted, and recom- 
mended to the Secretary of War the official nego- 
tiator on the part of the United States, " to give 
private gratuities to the Creek chiefs to promote 
the success of the negotiation/'* The Secretary, 
however, entirely condemned the proposition ; but 



* See the proceed!ne;s of the Senate, published in the 
" Missouri Advocate" of 31st August last. 



85 



the deputation took the hint, and confederatf^d 
ainont^ themselves to practice a fraud on those who 
sent them, by apportioning about one hundred and 
sixty th usand dollars of the consideration money 
among themselves. Between the time of the con- 
clusion of the original treaty and of the supple- 
ment, all these circumstances were communicated 
to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs,* in the 
AV^ar Department, by the two Cherokees. Some 
weeks after the treaties had been ratified, Col. 
Benton deemed it his duty to communicate the fact 
of the existence of the intended fraud to the Senate, 
i?i secret session^ and the whole coalition imme- 
diately seized upon it for the purpose of criminat- 
ing the Adnjinistiation. They exonerate the Se- 
cretary at War (who negotiated the treaty) oi all 
knowledge of the meditated fraud, although the 
fact was first disclosed in his Department to one of 
his subordinates — but allege that the Administra- 
tion knew and concealed the fact frotn the Senate. 
It will, however, occur to every one, that, if any 
body can be supposed (without direct proof of the 
fact) to be conusant of the private arrangements 
among the chiefs, it must be the Secretary of War, 
or his assistant negotiator, Col. Benton, the volun- 
teer agent, " without diplomatic character or privi- 
lege," who left his seat in the Senate to intermeddle 
with the negotiation ; " not in the questionable and 
clumsy shape of a formal" commissioner, " but in 
the active, subtle, and pervading form of an < ffi.ial 
agent, establishing hims' If on the basis of social in- 
tercourse" with the members of the deputation.t 

* Mr. McKenney, former editor of th.- Washington Re- 
publicai), the personal friend and political adherent of Mr, 
Calh)un,and the enemy of the President and Secretary of 
State. 

i It is, perliaps, the success of Col. Benton in this novel 
species of negotiation, wh ch in-iuced him to recommend a 
similar mission to Panama, (See his speech, first edition.) 
li 



'%. 



•iil'v 



8G 

I'he President and Secietarv of Slate were, indeecL 
at Washington during the negotiation, and so were 
the Senators who accuse them ; neither, however, 
had any thing to do with the treaty until it was 
concluded ; all of them, except Col. Benton, were 
probably too much occupied in the duties of their 
respective stations, to be intermeddling with other 
matters, and had no other means of infortnation, in 
relation to the arrangements of the disputation, than 
were common to every body in Washington. There 
is, therefore, the same evidence upon which to con- 
vict the Senators, or any body else, of connivance, 
as there is to impeach the Administration. If it was 
criminal not to detect and expose the intended fraud, 
what shall be said of the Senator who proposed to 
bribe the deputation, and who knew at least as 
much of the arrangements among the chiefs as any 
body else, and concealed his knowledge until the 
treaty was ratified ? Yet the Administration is 
condemned, and the Senator and War Minister ap- 
plauded. 

Col. Benton says that " he recomirended the 
giving private gratuities to the chiefs, (bribery,) as 
the only way of treating with barbarians. He con- 
sidered the practice us sanctioned by the usage of 
tiie United States ; he believed it to he common 
among all barbarous nations, and in many that 
w^re civilized, and referred to the article of the 
constitution against receiving ^^ presents,^' as a 
proof that the convention thong'ut buch a restriction 
?ipcessari/ even among ourselves!!!" From 
which it is to be inferred, that our ministers might 
honestly tak-^ a bribe, if it were not specially pro- 
hibited, and that it is perfectly honest and consist- 
ent with the dignity and honor of this nation, to 
bribe the diplomatic representatives of other na- 
tions. If such a practice has been sanctioned by 
the usage of the United States, it certainly has been 







8 



87 

prudently concealed from the people. It is true 
that Mr. Talleyrand, in Oclober, 1797, did iutimate 
to our envoys near the government of Franct", ihat 
a sum of money, amounting to * fifty thousand 
pounds stei ling, would be required to be at the dis- 
posal of Talhy rand/or the pockets uj the directory 
and ministers, and that a loan to tne French Go- 
vernment would also be insisted on — which terms 
being complied with, IMr. Talleyrand had no doubt 
of eftVcting an accommodation between the two 
Countries. This proposed loan to the government 
and douceur (gratuities) to the directory, were fre- 
quently pressed upon our envoys, and, if they ad- 
verted to other points, they were told, "genlk- 
men,you do not speak to the point, it is monty ; 
it is expected that you will offer money ;" to whiih 
they uniformly replied. " no, no — not a sixpence." 
Noiwiihstandir.g the anxiety of this nation to avoid 
a conflict with France, it was not, in those days, 
thought to be consistent with its dignivy and honor 
to promote the success of ihe negotiation by bribe 

ry nor do I believe that the United States have, 

in any case, resorted to filling the ^i^kets of minis- 
ters with private gratuities, by Wriy ♦ of producing 
conviction on their minds." It is said, however, 
that the unofficial negotiator who recommends it, is 
to be Secretary of State when Gen. Jackson is 
President ; it is, therefore, possible, though not ve- 
ry probable, that,at some future period, our negotia- 
tions will be conducted after the manner of Talley- 
rand, in all things except talent— and annual ap- 
propriations become necessary for ^' private gratu- 
ities" to ministers of foreign nations. 

The party who thus continually assail the Ad- 
ministration, and lay in wait for an opportunity of 
seizing on the government, per fas aid nefus, by 
fair or foul means, is chiefly composed of men in 
all respects eminently qualified for the enterprise^ 



/ 






6i-t^-»U>V«?l. 



88 



by the possession of much courage and considera- 
ble talentSj witliout patriotism or political principle. 
Tlifir confederacy is accurately described in Gen. 
Foy's definition x3f an aristocracy oftlie nineteenth 
Cfntury : " a league or coalition of those who wish 
to consume without producing, occupy all public 
places without being competent to fill them, aud 
seizing upon all honors without meriting ihem.'^ 
Tyrants when in power; demagogues when out, the 
real people will fiisd it wise to resis'. them on the ad- 
vanced ground, before they obtain a lodgment in* 
some outwork t)f the constitution, whence they may 
direct a dangerous, and perhaps successful attack 
against the citad^ 1 itself. This republic can be 
successfully assailed only by gradual inroads on 
the principles of government : every attempt at en- 
croachment should, therefore, be promjjtly resisted, 
lest artfid and aspiring demagogues ohlain sway, 
and establish arbitrary power under the i»ame of the 
people. 

CURTIUS. 









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